I Will Never Let You Down
by secrethalfblood
Summary: This is a continuation of another story I've written (Blind). When Adam's father visits, he brings news that could shake Olympus. Adam and Thea are forced to return to camp only to find things are worse than they originally seemed.
1. Chapter 1

READ THIS! Ok so if anyone reading this didn't see in the description or hasn't read my other story, this is a continuation of another story on my page (Blind) so if you haven't read that already none of this is going to make sense. If you're here to read the continuation, thanks for reading! I hope you like it!

~secrethalfblood

Also, I had to change Adam's last name because my friend met someone with a similar last name so if anyone's wondering about that... yeah. Sorry, it was just too weird for me and it seriously hampered my writing. Sorry if that bothered anyone

...

Apov

If you're considering dating a child of Hermes, there's one thing you should know. You'll never be bored.

Thea laughed as she sprinted down the hall, several people staring after her in confusion but she skidded to a halt when she spotted me waiting by her locker.

"Hey." She said smiling brightly at me.

"Why are you running?" I asked but a door slammed and she looked over her shoulder.

"Uh, I really can't talk right now."

"But-" I started but she was already running again.

"I'll explain later! Love you!"

I watched her tear around the corner into the next hall and was confused until an angry voice shouted.

"Kall!"

"Oh good god." I muttered to myself. What had she done now?

It had been six weeks since Thea and I had started our senior year together, and while in those six weeks she'd managed to keep herself relatively contained, the fact was Thea was a natural born mischief maker. Sometimes she just couldn't help herself.

"You need to control your girlfriend." A furious Devin Rosenthal said glaring at me as around us several people started to snicker.

"That's probably not going to happen." I said shrugging. While most people might have been intimidated by the captain of the lacrosse team glowering at them, I wasn't. Despite his stocky build, he was several inches shorter than me, that and, well, it was hard to take someone seriously when they were whining about your girlfriend.

"She's crossed a line."

"Did you deserve it?" I asked skeptically.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well everyone heard about you and your friends messing with the JV team. Did you really think she'd let you get away with that?"

Rumor had it, they'd cornered them in the locker room and dunked their heads in the toilets. Trouble maker she might be, Thea generally restricted her antics to people who she felt deserved it. Usually that meant bullies.

His face went purple and for a moment I thought he looked rather embarrassed. As if part of him knew I had a point.

"What exactly happened to you anyways?" I asked. His uniform was ripped, his dark hair ruffled, and there was a slightly manic look in his eyes, as if he'd suffered a great shock and hadn't quite gotten over it yet. He looked a little crazy.

"She trapped a fruit bat in my locker!" He said indignantly and I stared at him.

"Excuse me?" I asked trying not to grin as people around us collapsed into laughter.

"You heard what I said." He spat through clenched teeth looking angry again. "And if you don't get her to stop messing with me and my friends-"

"You'll what?" I asked raising an eyebrow. "Try and beat her up again? Cuz that worked so well for you last time."

One of the nice things about dating Thea was that she wasn't afraid to fight her own battles. Most people assumed that when I found out they'd been waiting for her a week ago, ready to attack her after school, I'd be furious. In reality I'd laughed. I don't think any of them were prepared to lose quite so spectacularly to a girl that was out numbered.

"Maybe not." He said his face crimson now. "But I can take it up with the Dean. Everyone knows she's been expelled from every school she's gone to. What's one more on the list?"

"It's an interesting thought, but do you have any proof it was her?" I asked and he hesitated.

"The halls are monitored," he said glancing up at the security camera at the end of the corridor. "All they'd have to do is check the footage."

"Do you _really_ think she hasn't thought of that?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest and he looked uncertain.

"My advice." I started before he could start complaining again. "Stop messing with the younger students. Maybe if you stopped being such a bully, you wouldn't have to be so scared of my girlfriend."

He looked offended but, far from caring, I turned and made my way down the hall and turning where Thea had, pretty sure I knew where she had gone.

I jogged up the stairwell and when I tested the door that lead to the roof, I found it was unlocked like I knew it would be.

"Hey." Thea said grinning over her shoulder at me as I crossed the roof and leaned on the concrete wall she was sitting on, her legs dangling over the street below.

"You remembered to turn off the security cameras right?" I asked and she looked at me amused.

"What do you think I'm some sort of amateur or something?"

"Just checking." I said shrugging and looking out over the city. It was a nice day for October, warm and breezy, and though she'd always enjoyed heights I knew that wasn't the only reason she liked it up here. From the roof you could see all the major monuments and while I'd lived here my whole life, Thea couldn't seem to get enough of DC.

"Where did you even get a fruit bat?" I asked raising an eyebrow at her and she grinned.

"You'd be amazed at what you can find on Craigslist."

"How'd you get it in to the school?"

It wouldn't have been hard for her to get into Devin's locker. I was pretty sure she'd find any lock in the building laughable easy to open, but I did wonder how she managed to get a live animal through the halls and into the locker without someone noticing.

"A couple of the kids in the AV club helped me out." She said shrugging. "Just put a sheet over one of their carts and wheeled it and the cage into school. It wasn't hard."

"Ah, your fan boys coming to your aid once again?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said casually but she'd smiled.

While the school supposedly had a 'zero tolerance policy' on bullying, that didn't stop it from happening. Most kids' parents here were rich enough to stop their kids being kicked out of any school no matter what they'd done, so Thea had gained a sense of notoriety in the time she'd been here. Like at camp, she'd quickly gotten a reputation for sticking up for the misfits and the bullied especially among the younger years. Though no one had ever caught her, it was well known that if she caught you messing with other students you'd pay for it. Since then, she'd earned a small group of dedicated followers determined to help her enact off the book justice against the school's bullies. Most of them were kids she'd stood up for or their friends, but I was pretty sure several of the boys in this group had developed a crush on her.

"I think you do." I said with a grin and hopping up on the wall to sit next to her. "You know you probably shouldn't encourage them."

She smirked.

"Jealous?"

"Of Freshmen?" I asked and she laughed.

"Yeah, I think you're being a little ridiculous too."

"I never said I was jealous."

"Cuz you're acting sort of jealous."

"You're just trying to irritate me."

"Yeah and it's working." She said smugly. "You're so cute when you're frustrated."

I rolled my eyes and pushed her off the ledge ready to jump after her if I needed to, but I had nothing to fear. I felt the wind pick up around us and she shot back up to the roof, my father's ring glowing around her finger as she hovered in front of me.

"Well that was a bit uncalled for." she said rolling her eyes and I grinned.

"You're getting better." I said in approval enjoying the way the breeze was tugging at her hair.

"Yeah. Well you keep pushing me off things."

"You told me you didn't fall."

"I _don't_ fall." She said insisted with an annoyed expression. "But I can be pushed."

"Oh please, you're fine."

There was a point in time when I'd been a little over protective of Thea, but it didn't take long after we'd started dating for me to realize that worrying about her was essentially pointless. Thea could take care of herself and unless she was in life threatening danger, I was more than happy to let her do so.

"You know some people might consider that attempted murder."

"You seem really concerned." I said gravely and she grinned.

"Yes, I'm very angry at you."

"I can tell." I said laughing and pulling her into a kiss.

I felt the wind swirling around us as I pulled her closer, but didn't let go feeling the electricity spark within me that I associated only with her. Though we'd only been dating for a few months, I didn't think I'd been happier in my entire life. When I'd been dating Crystal it seemed like all we did was fight, but thinking back in my time with Thea I couldn't remember a single argument. All I could remember was laughing, both of us, and the feeling of finally knowing here I belonged.

I would have happily spent the rest of break with Thea, but I heard the roof door open behind us and quickly pulled her back onto the ledge of the wall. I glanced over my shoulder to see Daisy stepping out onto the roof.

"I thought I'd find you guys up here." She said then noticed my arm around Thea's waist. "Canoodling I see."

Her hair was still blonde, but highlighted with purple and blue now which annoyed our mother to no end and I knew was why she had done it.

"What's up Daze?" Thea asked grinning at her. Thea got along very well with Daisy. Sometimes I thought they were closer than she and I were, but I had to admit, since Thea had been around things had been better between my sister and I.

"Mom's picking us up early."

"Why?" I asked feeling disappointed. Thea lived in the dormitory of the school during the year and while she spent a fair amount of time at my house, school was where I saw her most. I didn't want to leave early.

"Your Dad's in town." She said and I felt blank shock go through me.

"He is?" I asked and I saw Thea frown. I knew why she was confused. It was the same reason I was staring cautiously at Daisy as well. My father never visited me.

"Yeah." She said and I wondered if the fact that Robert had suddenly had to go away on business this morning had _really_ been a coincidence with the arrival of my father. "She wants us all to go out tonight."

"What are we going to do?" I asked frowning and she shrugged.

"The usual when she wants to impress someone. Box seats at the opera, private table at a whatever restaurant he choses, limo tour around the city."

"That sounds awful." Thea said pulling face. I knew she was partial to the Segway tours on which she'd instigated many races which had resulted in a number of crashes.

"Well you're going to have to suck it up." Daisy said amused. "'Cuz you're coming with us."

"I am?" Thea asked in surprise and Daisy smirked as she responded.

"Yep."

"Why?" Thea asked looking confused. "I thought after the wishing fountain incident I was sort of blacklisted from family outings."

While it had never been said aloud, my mother had abandoned her attempt to rein in Thea's hyperactivity when around important people. I knew originally hoped she might be able to portray Thea as my intelligent, respectable girlfriend to influential people or business associates. She'd always tried to show Crystal off when she was around, but while the top student in her field of study at school, Thea had had no interest in being shoved into what she'd called 'the world of boring adulthood.' Thea was smart, but hadn't enjoyed being paraded around like a show pony. The result was several awkward dinners and social events in which she was easily bored and found various ways to 'entertain' herself, finishing with her accidentally catching a waiter's vest on fire and having to tackle him into a wishing fountain in which they were both utterly soaked. After this, it was pretty much agreed upon by everyone that Thea would stay far away from my mother's career and only really attended social events when me having a date was absolutely critical.

"Because that's the whole reason he's in town." Daisy said giving her a significant look. "He wants to meet you."

Thea laughed clearly thinking this was a joke, but stopped quickly when she caught my sister's expression.

"Wait, you're serious?"

"Yeah." Daisy said and Thea looked most upset.

"You mean I have to sit through another one of those boring, screechy musicals?" she muttered morosely and I looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "What?"

"My Dad makes time to come meet you, and that's what you're worried about?" I asked her, deciding not to point out the musicals and operas were completely different forms of entertainment.

"You're so weird Thea." Daisy said chuckling and shaking her head. "Well, I figure you two are going to want to talk about this. I'm going to head down. Don't take too long alright? You know how much she hates waiting."

"Alright." Thea said and Daisy gave her a curious look before heading back towards the stairwell.

"Why do you look so tense Adam?"

"How are you not?" I asked her. "If my father's coming something must be up."

"You need to relax." She said amused.

"How can you be so calm?" I asked and she shrugged. "You do remember that he is the King of Olympus right? The most powerful God in the pantheon has taken a personal interest in you. Why are you just shrugging?"

"He can't hate me too much." She said and when I gave her a questioning look she grinned.

"What are you up to?" I asked warily. I knew that expression.

She didn't answer, just let herself slip off the wall and plummeted to the ground.

"Thea!" I shouted in shock but she laughed and easily flew back up, holding her hand up for me to see the ring that was glowing.

"Still works." She said shrugging. "If he had an issue with me I think I would have hit the ground. Or, you know, been zapped out of the sky. I've been airborne more than enough times for him to notice."

"You're weird."

"You love me." She said with a laugh and I grinned.

"You're right. I do."

I pulled her back onto the roof and put an arm around her shoulders while she put one around my waist as we crossed the roof back to the stairwell.

"Do I really have to go to the stupid opera?" she asked looking up at me.

"Yes." I said with a laugh.

"But it's so awful." she complained.

"It's not that bad."

"I beg to differ."

"Well what would you have us do if you had the choice?"

"There's a monster truck rally at he Verizon center tonight." She suggested. "That could be fun."

"You just want to steal a monster truck." I said looking down at her and she smiled.

"I think I'd look good in one. You know, leather jacket, aviators and a ridiculously lifted ride. I could blast metal music and trample over all the monsters in DC. I'd probably even be back before dinner."

"Yeah, well that dream will have to wait. You're going to have to be on your best behavior tonight."

"I won't be."

"Of course not." I said rolling my eyes and holding the door to the steps open for her. "You're determined to be an obituary aren't you?"

"Obituary?" she asked with a laugh. "Dream bigger Adam. I expect the damn front page." She held up her hand and looked off into the distance as if reading a billboard. "' _Local Teen Struck by Lightning Indoors, Baffles Weathermen Everywhere'_."

"I'll make sure they put that on your head stone."

"Well as long as it catches people's attention." She said amused.

"I think you're doing that just fine without being electrocuted." I said taking her hand as we stepped out of the stairwell and she smiled.

We made our way towards the front of the school where Daisy was leaning against a limo waiting for us.

"Ready?" she asked grinning at me.

"As I'll ever be." I muttered and Thea rolled her eyes as we slid into the back.

"Cheer up Adam. The last time I saw my Dad he nearly barbecued half the camp. It won't be that bad. Hey Mrs. K."

"Hello Thea." My mother said warily and while I was pretty sure she'd grown to like Thea over the last few months, I could tell she was anxious about how the evening was going to go. "I was told there was an incident involving the Rosenthal boy and a bat today at school. I do hope you weren't caught."

"That was you?" Daisy asked snickering.

"Do they ever catch me?" Thea asked grinning and I could tell my mother was half way to reprimanding her when I cut her off.

"Don't bother, she's going to do what she wants."

Thea flashed me a smile.

"This is going to be a long night isn't it?" my mother asked with a sigh as Daisy pulled out her phone, plugged her headphones in and handed Thea one and they started listening to the music on it.

"He might like her." I pointed out remembering what Thea said about my father's lack of reaction to how often she'd borrowed my powers via his ring.

"You think?" she asked doubtfully. "Your father is a very particular person Adam."

"So are you." I said and she gave me a calculated look. "She still won you over."

"We'll see." She said glancing at Thea who was laughing with Daisy about something we'd missed, but I was pretty sure had to do with Devin.

She still looked anxious, but I could have sworn as she looked at Thea she almost smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

I survived finals! Hope everyone else gets through the end of the year relatively unscathed. Good luck to everyone else taking finals or just trying to make it to the end of the semester! Thanks for all the good luck wishes and the reviews/favorites/follows!

~secrethalfblood

Tpov

Two hours later, and with some help from Daisy, I was all dressed up ready to go to the opera with Adam and his family, minus Robert, feeling distinctly uncomfortable in a black evening gown his mother had picked out for me, and my hair done up in a way I knew would have been beyond useless in a monster fight.

"You look so unhappy." Daisy said chuckling as we walked from her room to the stairs that would lead to the main entrance of the house. She too was in a long dress that was blue and her hair was once again pulled back so you couldn't see the color in it.

"I can't run in heels." I said moodily.

"Oh stop whining. Dressing like a girl for once won't kill you and besides, you get to stare at my brother all night." She said knowingly. "Isn't that why you put up with all this?"

She was sort of right. Even if I hated dressing up, when I had to it generally meant that Adam had to as well which was something I thoroughly enjoyed.

"Speaking of Adam…" she said smirking slyly at me as we spotted him at the bottom of the steps.

He turned when he heard his name, and when he spotted us he seemed stunned.

"Close your mouth brother." Daisy said amused. "It's not a good look."

"You look beautiful." He said grinning at me, ignoring his sister and I smiled.

"You look great yourself." I said which was perfectly true. He was wearing a dark dinner jacket and obviously tailored for him, and not for the first time I thought he looked like a movie star.

"Are you girls finally ready?" Nadine said sounding harassed, putting in a glittering earring and grabbing her hand bag from a small table by the front door. "We're very nearly late." she continued and I resisted the temptation to roll my eyes. Nadine's idea of late was everyone else's idea of politely punctual. If she wasn't at least fifteen minutes early for anything she didn't feel she'd had the proper time to prepare.

Like the first time I'd seen her she was in white, but her dress fell to the floor tonight and pulled up to a single shoulder, and part of me couldn't help but wonder if she was intentionally worn a dress that looked like a toga considering who was coming to visit.

"Hey, you told me you wanted her to look sophisticated." Daisy said defensively while gesturing towards me. "She's as hyperactive as a squirrel that just chugged a Redbull. It takes time."

"Well let's get going." She said opening the door only to stop in her tracks to see a tall man dressed in a black tux like Adam, with the same dark hair but his eyes were a much lighter blue.

"Oh." She said a little breathlessly and I was stunned to realize for first time since I'd met her, I might have seen Nadine caught off guard. "You're here."

Zeus was as tall as Adam with the same Hollywood style good looks. While I'd always pictured him with a beard, he was clean shaven today and his look completely modern. Like all of the gods, he radiated a sense of power but for once it didn't intimidate me. I mean it should have, he was the most powerful god on Olympus, but I couldn't quite manage to feel fear. Unlike Artemis, who'd always made me feel a bit on edge, something about his power felt familiar. I guess his appearance wasn't the only similarity he had with his son.

"You look beautiful Nadine." He said with a fond smile and she did something I never expected from her. She blushed.

"T-thank you." she said quietly and it was obvious to me from the expression she wore as she looked at him, that part of her was still totally in love with Adam's father.

He looked passed her and I saw his eyes land on Adam, whose hand had found mine.

"It's been a while since I've seen you, son. How are you?"

"Fine." He said and while his expression was neutral, I felt Adam tense next to me as his father's eyes landed on me.

"I see like your brothers and I, you've developed a preference for beautiful women." His eyes darted to the ring Adam had given me, which I'd worn since our mission together over the summer. "It seems to be a family trait."

Nadine went crimson again but I felt an eyebrow raise and I could see Daisy was wearing a similar expression. I knew we were thinking the same thing. Was he seriously hitting on me for Adam?

His brow furrowed for a moment as he contemplated me, but his face quickly relaxed.

"You look very much like your father when you do that." He said amused then turned back to Nadine. "We should be going. We'll miss our reservation."

He offered her his arm which she took after a moment's hesitation, and together they walked out of the house.

"And once again I've been completely ignored." Daisy said sourly, obviously annoyed as she glared after Adam's father. "You'd think to him I was invisible."

"To be honest that went better than I expected it too." Adam muttered.

"The night is still young brother." Daisy said with a smirk. "There's still plenty of time for things to go wrong."

"Thank you Daze." He said scowling and she chuckled.

"Hey, at least he think's your girlfriend is hot. 'Cuz that's not creepy at all."

She followed her mother and Zeus out of the house and I looked at Adam.

"That wasn't that bad." I said but he didn't seem reassured, in fact, he looked worried. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know." He said quietly but his eyes hadn't left his father. "Something's off with him."

"He seemed fine to me." I said shrugging. "Completely relaxed."

"Yeah, that's the problem." He said his eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it Thea." He said frowning. "My father is the God of law and order in a world of chaos and gods and monsters that are always fighting with each other. Between prophecies, demigods, and Titan wars and gods know what else is going to happen in our world, when has he ever been known to be relaxed?"

I looked after Adam's father not entirely sure what to think. He had a point. Zeus wasn't exactly known for being lighthearted but he'd been here what? Five minutes? Maybe he was just happy to see Nadine again. His affection for her had been obvious. He'd seemed happy to see Adam too.

"I'm sure everything is fine." I said trying not to laugh at the irony of Adam, of all people, being concerned over someone's inability to relax, but before he could respond Daisy poked her head back into the house.

"Are you guys coming?" she asked irritated. "I was trying to talk to you guys for like a whole minute before I realized you weren't behind me."

"Sorry Daze." I said amused and pulling Adam towards the door. "What were you going to say?"

Daisy and I talked about her up coming trip with her friends to Austria as we crossed the lawn and got back into the limo. She was going skiing over fall break while Adam and I would be going to camp. Adam's parents spoke quietly a few feet apart from us on the seats, but he didn't say much. As Daisy explained to me about the different levels of ski slopes, he continued to look at his father every so often who at first glance appeared perfectly at ease, but I noticed his shoulders were set with the same tension that Adam's had when ever he was worried about something. Nadine didn't seem to notice this however. She was smiling more than I'd ever seen and looked several years younger as she spoke to Zeus. Daisy seemed to pick up on this as well because I caught her rolling her eyes several times when she glanced at the pair. She saw me looking at her when she did this once and gave me an incredulous expression, as if to say. 'You're seeing this too right?'

I grinned but kept my mouth shut which I figured might have to be the policy for the night.

I was relatively well behaved at dinner, I spent most of my time talking to Adam or Daisy, but when we got to the Kennedy Center for the show and I thought of the hours of boredom a head of me, I got a little carried away.

"Put it back." Adam muttered catching my arm as I lifted a wallet off a wealthy looking elderly man as well as liberated his much younger, rather more attractive, wife of her diamond bracelet.

"Alright." I said with a sigh returning the money and the jewelry.

"How are you already bored?" he asked amused. "We haven't even gone to our seats."

"How are you not?" I asked raising an eyebrow and looking around. "There's so much havoc to be wreaked here and I'm expected just to ignore all of it?"

"Yes." He said grinning. "Mortals don't like havoc. It makes them panic."

"Well then what am I supposed to do to entertain myself?" I asked stubbornly.

"Figure out how you would steal that." He said gesturing towards a massive gold and crystal chandelier that was glittering above us. "That should keep you busy."

Over the passed few months, Adam had developed a series of strategies that dealt with the struggles of dating a energetic kleptomaniac. He'd found several ways to keep my mind occupied when I was bored and restless in a situation I shouldn't be, and this was one of his go to's. He'd pick a random item in the room and ask me how I'd steal it, and I spent the next few minutes formulating a plan until I'd figured it out and he'd move on to the next item. At first I thought this might annoy him, but he seemed to rather enjoy hearing my ideas. It had become sort of a game between us, he'd try to pick the most difficult things and pick apart my plans, and I'd have to prove that stealing them was possible. Granted, it wasn't the same as actually stealing things, but I found I had more fun when Adam was involved.

"How much prep time do I have?" I asked with interest.

"No prep time." He said. "It's as if you were trying to steal it tonight."

"Can I pull the fire alarm?" I asked grinning at him.

"You're trying to be a discrete as possible."

"Interesting." I said looking back up at the chandelier. That might actually be a challenge.

This kept me preoccupied through the first half of the show and during the intermission I told him my complex plan, which involved a string of minor thefts from the concessions stand and seducing a maintenance worker, but I was surprised when a voice said.

"Or you could simply ask the god accompanying you for the evening to send it where ever you like."

We both turned to see Adam's father looking at us amused.

"But, forgive me if that seems too easy."

"I didn't think you'd have much interest in grand theft." I said looking up at him.

"I don't." he agreed. "But I'll admit, it is an intriguing mental exercise. One I'm sure your father would appreciate." He gave me a shrewd look. "You are very much like him."

"I don't know whether you mean that as a compliment or an insult." I said. I'd heard it used as both.

"I think I'll let you decide what you think I mean by it." he said cryptically and while Adam looked annoyed by this, I grinned.

"Compliment it is then.

"She's certainly confident." He said looking at Adam whose expression was hard to read. "I'll give her that. Just like your mother."

The lights dimmed signaling the end of intermission, but when Adam took my hand to drag me back to the music and wailing, his father spoke.

"I was hoping I could speak with you, son."

"Now?" he asked a little confused and Zeus nodded.

"In private." He continued.

"Why?" he asked and I felt his grip on my hand tighten slightly, but whatever his father had wanted to say, he obviously didn't want to say in front of me.

"Well this seems personal." I said letting go of Adam's hand. "I'll see you inside alright?"

He nodded and I made my way to Daisy who'd been flirting with the guy behind the ticket counter. But as the lights dimmed again, signaling the final warning for the show, I looked over my shoulder back at Adam and his father who were making their way towards the exit and my mind presented me with a choice. Boring opera or mysterious conversation with the King of Olympus?

I didn't have to think very hard.

"Where are you going?" she asked as I started to push against the crowd that was flooding back into the concert hall.

"Bathroom." I lied quickly.

"You waited until now?" she asked but I ignored this and allowed myself to get lost in the sea of people, following Adam and his father at a distance.

They'd made it outside now and I'd thought I'd lost them for a minute, but I spotted them walking about thirty feet away on the patio that over looked the river. Though it was dark out, I hesitated. We were the only ones out here; everyone had gone back inside for the show and if they heard anything they were bound to see me. I glanced around and grinned when I saw a wall of ivy that climbed up to the roof and though it might not have been very lady like, I kicked off my heels and started to scramble up to the ledge, able to follow them quite easily now I was no longer at ground level.

"She's a bit unusual isn't she, your girlfriend?" I heard his father ask as they looked out at the water and I shivered as a cool night breeze swept across me.

"I like unusual." Adam said shrugging and I couldn't help but smile.

"I can tell." Zeus said amused. "Not many people would have the courage to stand up to Artemis. Though if I'm honest, I'm surprised your mother lets her anywhere near you."

"She doesn't have much choice in the matter. And besides, Thea's grown on her."

"You must really like this girl if you stood up to Nadine."

Adam didn't respond to this and I wondered what he was thinking, but his father continued before I could figure it out.

"I like her too." He said eventually. "Your little adventure with Eris was all over Olympus. I have to admit I was favorably impressed with Hermes's daughter. Not many would have made it out of there alive."

"Why are you here Dad?" Adam asked flatly.

"I can't take an interest in my son's life?" Zeus asked casually looking down at Adam and while I couldn't see his expression, I saw Adam's jaw set in the way that meant he was annoyed about something.

"You really expect me to believe out of all the things you could be here for, it's because you've finally taken an interest in who I date?"

"Alright." Zeus said quietly looking back at the water. "You're right. But Thea is the reason why I am here."

"What do you want with her?"

"Nothing." He said. "I just hoped she might be able to help me with something."

"What do you mean?"

"I was hoping she might have heard from her father." he said and Adam looked at him.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Technically as Gods were not supposed to have favorites, but she's one of his. I figured if he was talking to anyone it might be her, but it's obvious she hasn't heard anything."

"She hasn't." Adam said and I could hear the frown in his voice. "What does Thea's father have to do with anything?"

"Because no one has seen him for two days." He said gravely and I felt something cold go through me as my stomach contracted. "He vanished on a delivery between Hephaestus and Ares and no one's heard from him since."

"What was he delivering?" Adam asked quietly but I had a feeling I knew. What else would Ares want from Hephaestus?

"A weapon." Zeus said gravely confirming my fears. "And now he's disappeared."

His voice was low as he continued and finally, the stress he'd been holding off all night was starting to show.

"And you think, because of what he was delivering, he's been captured?" Adam said darkly.

"It is very likely."

Adam ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

"You can come out now Thea." He said sounding tired and after a moment's hesitation, I dropped between the two, Adam helping me to my feet.

Zeus looked stunned.

"How long has she been up there?" he asked looking suspiciously at the roof. It was obvious he was not used to being sneaked up on.

"A while." Adam muttered shaking his head but I ignored this and looked at Zeus and as I spoke, I could hear my voice shaking.

"What happened to my father?"


	3. Chapter 3

Apov

Someone who didn't know Thea would have thought she'd handled the news of her father's disappearance well. She didn't cry or get angry, in fact, she barely reacted at all. But I'd known her long enough to realize that this lack of a response was far more dangerous than her freaking out.

She didn't complain as we walked back into the show and didn't talk or laugh throughout the rest of the evening. She didn't even smile. Daisy asked her what was wrong but she'd shaken her head, refusing to answer. I could see in her eyes that she was thinking.

Finally, when we got home, she'd gone straight to the guest room where she kept some spare clothes without saying good bye to my father. I quickly followed her after he and my mother went to her study to talk, to find she'd already changed and was packing.

"Thea-" I started but she cut me off.

"Don't try to change my mind Adam," she said shoving her wallet into a side pocket of her book bag which was resting on the bed. "I'm going."

"We're leaving for camp in tomorrow." I reminded her.

"That's not soon enough."

"What about school?" We had one final day of classes before break started.

"Screw school."

"Look, I know you're upset."

"Upset?" she asked turning and looking at me incredulously. "My father goes missing and you think I'm just upset?"

I hesitated, not entirely sure what to say and she shook her head. She turned back to the bed running her fingers through her hair.

"Some things are more important than school." She said shouldering the book bag as I crossed the room to stand next to her.

"I know." I said quietly. "But it's one day, and we don't even know if anything is wrong."

"I talked to Austin." She said tapping the charm on her necklace her brother had given her. "They've been trying to contact him. He's not talking to anyone, not even us. You don't think that means something is wrong?"

"Even if there is, what exactly is your plan?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Take the first bus to New York and get to camp over night."

"And then what?" I asked. "No one knows what's going on. What exactly is leaving tonight going to accomplish except for making you miss the exam you have tomorrow?"

"I could figure something out." She said a little half heartedly.

"That none of your siblings or Chiron could? Thea, not even my dad knows what's going on."

"But-" she started, but I cut her off.

"Look, if we knew anything I'd agree with you. Hell, I'd even come with you tonight, but we don't." I gently pulled the book bag off her shoulders and set it back on the bed. "Leaving tonight does nothing but get you into trouble at school. Besides I'm sure your dad is fine."

She bit her lip and the hazel eyes I'd gotten to know so well were still anxious.

"How can you be sure?" she asked and I grinned.

"Because you're his daughter. When have you ever needed rescuing?"

Finally, she smiled.

"Everything will be fine Thea," I said pulling her into a hug which she returned. "You're Dad's the fastest god in Olympus. What could possible catch him? He's probably just taking Ares's toy for a joy ride before he hands it off. Isn't that what you would do?"

She laughed and while it wasn't as happy or carefree as usual, I was glad to hear it. She'd been so quiet all night.

"I guess you're right." She said eventually as we broke apart and she looked down at the book bag. "There's nothing we can really do right now. Is there?"

"No." I agreed taking her hand and she sighed.

"This is so frustrating." She muttered. "I wish there was something I could do."

"You could rewire Devin's sprinkler system so that it only activates when he steps outside." I suggested. "He lives on the next street over."

She smiled.

"You going to help?" she asked and I hesitated. Normally I wouldn't get involved in Thea's off the record war against bullies. I usually just let her do her thing and pretended not to know much about it when people confronted me, but she looked so hopeful I didn't have the heart to say no. I was glad she as finally smiling again.

"Sure." I said and she tackled me into a hug.

"You're the best." She said and I grinned when she kissed me cheek.

She let me go and immediately started to plan.

"Ok we're going to need a wrench, something to use for a pressure plate, and a whole bunch of wire." She drifted towards the hallway, but when she reached door she looked back over her shoulder. "Do you know if they have a dog?"

"I think they've got cats, but that's it."

"Perfect." She said beaming. "Think we should invite Daisy? She can't stand him."

"Do whatever you want." I said amused and after one final smile she darted into the hall and I saw her head towards Daisy's room.

I felt my grin fade a little when my eyes landed on the bag that was still packed and resting on the bed. I was more worried then I'd let on. The truth was, knowing the gods and their world, something was probably wrong and if one of the Olympians had vanished it was probably something major.

I felt a wave of bitterness go over me. It was just weeks ago Thea and I had gotten back from that insane maze after nearly being killed by Eris and now this. Why did it always seem like every time we put out one of their fires they had to go and mess everything up again? Why did it have to be her father?

"Hey, you coming bro?"

I looked up to see Daisy and Thea looking into the room from the hall. It was Daisy who'd spoken.

"Yeah." I said forcing a smile and they gave me identical evil grins.

As we stepped out into the night, I took Thea's hand and tried to force myself to think of other things. We didn't know anything yet and until we got some solid information there was no point in upsetting her. I'd almost managed in forcing it from my mind as we crossed the front lawn, when I looked back at my house. Through one of the front windows I saw my father sitting in my mother's office. He looked stressed and it seemed the facade he'd been presenting for the night had finally slipped. My mother was sitting on the arm of his chair and they seemed to be having a serious conversation.

Had he told her what was going on?

He closed his eyes and rested his head on his finger tips at his temple looking strained, and she put a comforting hand on his shoulder. I was surprised by her expression. It was much gentler than usual. It reminded me of when I was kid and I was first starting to see monsters. Also, it strangely reminded me of Thea and the day she'd found me on the roof of the Big House over the summer.

She said something and when he looked up at her, again I was surprised. I'd never seen him look so vulnerable.

"Think he likes her?" Daisy asked me quietly while Thea talked to herself about rewiring the sprinkler system and what would need to be done, apparently unaware of the conversation that was happening a foot away from her.

"What?" I asked looking down at her.

"Your dad." She said giving me a significant look. "Think he likes your girlfriend?"

"Yeah. He told me he did."

"Really?" she asked in surprise. "I'll admit I didn't see that coming."

"Why not?"

"I dunno. Last time I saw your Dad he was kind of… uptight." She glanced over her shoulder back at the office window. "But then again, so is mom and so are you and you both like her. Guess it's not that surprising."

"I'm not uptight." I said irritated as we turned onto the next street.

"Well not when you're around Thea." She said shrugging. "Maybe she has the same effect on Mom and your dad. She's definitely been easier to deal with since Thea's been around."

"Are you guys talking to me?" Thea asked obviously having caught her name.

"No." We said in unison and she gave us a suspicious look.

"Right," she said looking between us and then obviously deciding not to ask. "Well are either of you going to take the lead? 'Cuz we can follow me if you want but I've no idea where we're going and if you leave me in charge, we're going to end up stealing a car and smashing mail boxes with bats."

"Have you actually done that?" I asked her as Daisy burst out into laughing and Thea smiled.

"That's how I celebrated my thirteenth birthday."

"Was Blake involved?" I asked raising an eyebrow and she looked surprised.

"How did you know?"

"I had a feeling." I said tersely but taking the lead. "We're going to the one with red shutters."

Tpov

Rewiring the sprinklers was easier than I thought it would be. It took us a little under an hour to reset the system, after which I went back to my dormitory for the night. It was late when I got back, so my room mate was already asleep, but when I got into bed I felt wide awake. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't forget what I'd heard about my father. Part of me was tempted to try and contact him but I knew it was no use. Austin and everyone of my siblings who stayed at camp full time had already tried. He wasn't answering.

Instead, I thought about the following day when Adam and I would be heading back to camp over fall break where I finally might be able to get some answers. My dad would have been proud of me though, for pulling such a good prank and I grinned to myself as I remembered Daisy's laugh and Adam's slightly guilty expression as we put the finishing touches on our trap. I knew Adam wasn't exactly crazy about being dragged into trouble with me, and I knew he'd only agreed to come to cheer me up last night, but I couldn't feel too guilty about it. Not when the next morning I laughed all the way to my locker after seeing an absolutely drenched Devin Rosenthal slipping his way into the school.

"Did you do that Thea?" a voice asked as he squelched passed me in the hall, leaving several students looking stunned and a trail of wet foot prints behind him.

I shut my locker door and glanced down to see a short red headed boy with wide brown eyes that were looking after Devin curiously.

"If I did you won't be able to prove it Toby." I said and he grinned.

He was one of the underclassmen I'd befriended since the school year had started. I knew he of all people would enjoy Devin getting what was coming to him. He was one of the boys Devin and his teammates had cornered in the locker room.

"You doing anything cool for the break?" I asked shoving my text books in my bag.

"My parents are renting out a bowling alley for my birthday." He said and for some reason he was blushing.

"That sounds like fun. When's your birthday?"

"Tomorrow."

"Start of break? Nice." I said grinning. "Well happy early birthday. Hope you get something cool."

"Thanks." He said and he still sounded nervous.

"You ok?"

"Yeah." He said shaking his head as if steeling himself for soemthing.

"You sure?"

He nodded and the warning bell went off echoing down the hall, causing the people around us to start moving to their classes.

"Alright," I said shouldering my book bag. "Well I guess I'll see you when we get back."

"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to go." He said quickly.

"Go?" I asked confused. "Go where?"

"To my party." I said and suddenly I realized why he was going red. "I mean, I know you're a senior and bowling is lame, and you could bring your boyfriend if you want. I just thought-"

He was babbling at this point and I felt bad that I was going to have to turn him down.

"I'm sorry Toby," I said guiltily and I could see the disappointment on his face. "I can't make it."

"Oh." He said sounding embarrassed. "Yeah, I figured you wouldn't want to go. It's gonna be mostly underclassmen and you probably have better things to do."

"It's not that. I'm just not going to be in town. I'll be in New York."

"Oh." He said looking a little less upset.

"Tell you what. Next time you and your friends go bowling, let me know and I can go with you guys."

"Alright." He said smiling but his eyes went slightly wider as I felt an arm slide around my shoulders and I heard Adam ask.

"I hope I'm invited too."

I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah." Toby said a little awkwardly. "Sure. I'll see you around Thea."

"See you Toby." I said a little amused as he quickly walked away and joined some of his friends, then looked up at Adam whose eyes followed Toby down the hall.

"A part of you likes scaring my freshman friends, doesn't it?" I asked raising an eyebrow and he grinned down at me.

"Maybe a little bit."

"Leave the underclassmen alone." I said not sure if I should laugh or be annoyed as we started walking to my class.

"Oh c'mon. He obviously has a crush on you."

"So?"

"So, one of the perks of being your boyfriend is I get to remind all the guys who aren't as lucky as I am that you're taken."

"You know it's hard to be irritated at you when you say stuff like that."

"Why do you think I say it?" he said with a slight smile but when I looked up at him to respond, I noticed he looked tired.

"What's wrong?" I asked in concern.

"What do you mean?"

"You look like you barely slept." I said and his smile faded.

"It's nothing." He said shaking his head.

"Is it the nightmares again?" I asked softly and while he didn't answer he didn't have to. Ever since we'd gotten back from our mission Adam had been having nightmares of the maze. They didn't happen every night, usually just a few times a week but they had me worried. He didn't like to talk about it but he had told me when they did happen, he'd been reliving the moment when I'd fallen into the chaos.

"It doesn't matter." He said shaking his head and pulling me closer. "It's over. I just need to get over it."

"You sure?" I asked hesitantly. It wasn't uncommon for demigod dreams to mean something, and he'd been dreaming about this for a while now.

"Yeah." He said smiling down at me and when he withdrew his arm from around my shoulders, I realized we were at my class. "Good luck on your exam."

"Thanks. I'll see you later."

He kissed me goodbye and I walked to my desk very aware of the eyes that followed me.

This always happened whenever Adam walked me to class. I knew people didn't understand why someone like Adam would have any interest in dating me, and to be honest, I wasn't even sure I understood it myself. He was smart, attractive and all of the preppy, popular kids wanted him to be part of their circle. They all wondered why Adam, who'd never had so much as a tardy, was going out with the weird troublemaker when the prettiest girls in school all wanted to date him, but I tried not to think about it too much. I ignored the dirty looks girls would give me when we walked in the hall together and the way people whispered. What did it matter what they said?

I sat down in my usual spot by the window and zoned out as the class filled around me, watching the leaves fall in the court yard and thinking about my father. Life outside of camp had caused me to have several revelations, but one of the biggest was that I'd forgotten what it was like to see the leaves change every year. Another big surprise was that autumn might be my favorite season.

The bell rang and our teacher Ms. Cole stepped into the room with a stack of stapled papers. She was tall and blonde with sharp green eyes that often looked at me critically, in a way that made me uncertain if she thought I was funny or annoying, but over all I thought she liked me. She ought to, I hadn't gotten a grade lower than a ninety six in this class.

"You have an hour to take the exam." she said handing the test to the start of each row where the students passed them back. "After you're done I ask that you please refrain from distracting other students. Not everyone finishes early."

Her eyes snapped to me and I grinned.

She set the timer at the front of the class, and I opened the exam to the first page. Just as I started reading the first question, the door opened and we all looked up to see a burley boy step into the room.

"Sorry Ms. Cole." Devin said and while his hair was still wet, his uniform was now dry. "I had to change."

"It's alright Mr. Rosenthal." She said handing him the last remaining test. "Just take a seat and start your exam."

He took the papers and I saw his eyes go wide as he looked around to see every desk was taken except for one. The one next to mine.

I smirked and waved at him and he scowled.

"Rough morning Devin?" I asked amused as he fell into the seat next to me.

"You're an ass Reign." He spat and I grinned.

"Gonna whine to Adam about it?"

He flushed but he managed to turn his embarrassment into a sneer.

"I won't have to soon." He said darkly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked confused.

"C'mon Thea." He said as if talking to a slow child. "You can't honestly expect your relationship with Kall is going to last."

"What makes you say that?"

"Isn't obvious?" he asked but when I didn't respond, he continued looking smug. "You two were born into two completely different places in society. Even if you were smart enough to get into this school, you don't really belong here. Everybody knows it."

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked but I looked away from him feeling my stomach knot, as if part of my certainty had slipped and he pounced on it.

"Because the truth is Thea, you're not the kind of person a guy like Adam is going to end up with and you know that." he said nastily. "You're nothing but a place filler, a book mark until he moves on to the next chapter of his life and finds something better." He scoffed. "One day he's going to see passed that pretty smile of yours and realize you're nothing but annoying little girl whose only real accomplishment is not to get kicked out of her latest school."

I felt something inside me go cold but I didn't let it show. Instead I grinned at him.

"This smile?"

He glowered.

"I didn't realize you thought I was attractive Devin."

"Shut up Thea."

"Well this is awkward. You know I have a boyfriend."

"Rosenthal! Reign! Get to work on your exam!"

I gave Devin one final smirk but I felt it fade as I turned back to the questions in front of me. I found it hard to focus at the moment

I glanced down at the ring Adam had given to me.

'He doesn't know what he's talking about.' I thought bitterly returning to my exam. 'Devin is an idiot.'

But was that really true? He wasn't the only one here who thought that after all. I glanced around the room at my class mates. While no one had been overtly hostile or mean to me, part of me wondered if that was only because I was dating Adam. It was pretty obvious that I didn't have any friends here besides Daisy and a couple of underclassmen I'd stuck up for. Was that because of what Devin had said? Did they really think I didn't belong?

I glanced at the timer on the board and felt a jolt go through me when I realized ten minutes had already passed and I hadn't answered a single question.

I shook my head and returned to the paper in front of me.

'Ignore him.' I thought as I circled the answer and moved on to the next question.

Devin might have been going to school with Adam for years, but no one here knew him like I did.

'Like you know him at camp.' Said a small voice in the back of my head. 'But they know him in the real world. And that's where he spends most of his time.'

Without really meaning to, I brushed the ring with my thumb. I didn't know when it had started, but I often toyed with it when I was feeling anxious about something. For some reason when I reminded myself it was there I felt better. I was being stupid. Adam wouldn't have given it to me if I wasn't important to him. How many times had people told him this? That I was not the kind of person he should be around and how many times had he proven that he didn't care what anyone else thought?

The truth was they didn't know him as well as they thought they did. There was a whole other side to Adam and his life that no one here could understand, and I as I continued through the test I tried to tell myself that Adam wanted me in it.

I turned in my exam when the bell rang with the rest of the class feeling a little distracted, but smiled when I saw Adam waiting in the hall for me.

"Hey." I said happily as he took my hand and we started walking to the library together. We had the same study hall.

"Hey. How was your exam?"

"Fine." I said honestly. "There wasn't anything on it I felt like I didn't know. What about you? How was class?"

I ignored the girls that started whispering as we took a seat at an open table as well as the several people that were looking at us.

"Nothing special." He said shrugging. He didn't seem to notice the attention we were getting.

We started talking about the first things we were going to do when we got back to camp, when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and I looked over to see Devin and his friends sitting two tables away. He noticed me staring, glanced at Adam, then smirked and I felt my stomach shrink slightly. It didn't help when he held up the novel he'd been reading, and snapped it shut, mouthing the word 'Bookmark' to me as he did.

"What's wrong?" Adam asked and I quickly looked away from Devin.

"Nothing." I said shaking my head. "Just thinking."

"About your dad?" he asked misinterpreting my apprehension and I jumped at the excuse.

"Yeah."

His hand found mind over the table and I looked at him.

"I'm sure he's fine Thea." He assured me. "We'll be at camp tonight and we can get everything figured out."

"Do you think he's ok? Honestly?" I asked and while initially my father wasn't what I'd been worried about, it was now.

He hesitated and I knew what was going on in his mind. He didn't want to upset me, but he also didn't want to lie.

"Let's just wait until we have all the information." He said quietly. "Then we can talk about it."


	4. Chapter 4

Apov

The trip to camp was about as uneventful as it could be fore a demigod. Thea and I made it to New York alright and while we stumbled into a pack of hell hounds at the airport, it wasn't the horde of murderous dogs that was concerning me. Thea had been relatively quiet the on the entire trip, well, quiet for her anyways, and while I couldn't think what she would be upset about if it wasn't her father, that didn't seem to be it. She was lost in thought and didn't seem to get out of her own head until we reached camp just in time for dinner.

"Hannah looks upset." She said frowning as we entered the dining pavilion and I looked over at the Persephone table to see several of Hannah's siblings were looking at her concerned. One of her sisters had put an arm around her shoulders and she seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"Any idea what might be bothering her?" I asked and Thea shook her head.

"No clue." She said frowning. "I'll ask Dennis. He'd probably know. I'll see you after dinner ok?"

"Alright." I said as she stood on her toes and kissed me on the cheek, then walked over to her table where I noticed for once, no one seemed to be talking. They all looked as miserable as Hannah, and as Thea took a seat next to Austin, several of her siblings looked at them as he started speaking to her. His expression was grave.

I searched for Dennis, but he wasn't there and I figured he must have been held up during an activity or was being yelled at by Chiron who was also missing from the pavilion. After we'd returned from our mission last summer, Dennis had taken over Thea's position as trouble maker in chief, and much to Chiron's annoyance, he was extremely good at it.

I noticed Tess stand from her table and sit next to Thea, apparently not caring about the rule forbidding campers from sitting at other cabin's tables. She put her arm around Thea like Hannah's sister had and Thea put her head in her hands. She wasn't crying, though her younger sister Jessica was, and she wasn't the only Hermes camper in tears. Something was very wrong.

Other campers, from all of the cabins, were looking at them. Even the Ares table seemed sympathetic rather than annoyed, which was usually their attitude towards the Hermes children. I was about to follow Tess's example and go to their table when a familiar voice said.

"Hey man."

I looked over to see Kyle had risen from his table and crossed the pavilion to talk to me.

"What's going on?" I asked looking back at the Hermes campers where Thea had gone back to talking to Austin.

"Dennis is missing." He said quietly and I felt shock go through me.

"What?" I asked quickly. "Are you sure?"

He nodded and I swore.

"Yeah." He said darkly. "First their father and now this. The Hermes kids are having a rough week."

"Does anyone know what happened?" I asked.

"No one's really sure." He said shaking his head. "All we know is that late last night after Dennis and Hannah got here, he got a message from his father. He thought it might have been a clue to where he was and brought it to Chiron asking to be sent on a mission to find him, but Chiron refused. Said he hadn't been at camp long enough and that we should wait for you and Thea to get back. The next thing we knew this morning he was gone."

"He went anyways." I said bitterly. It's exactly what Thea would have done.

"That's what most people are assuming." He agreed.

"Has Chiron sent anyone after him?" I asked.

"No one knows where he went and he stole the message his father sent him before he left, probably so that Chiron couldn't have anyone follow him."

"So he figured out what the message meant?"

"Either that or he thought he did. Why else would he leave?"

"Where's Chiron?" I asked looking back at the Hermes table where Thea had stood.

"He's on a call with Olympus. He's asking for them to try and find Dennis while they're looking for his father."

"How much longer do you think he'll be?"

"I've no idea."

"I'm going to go wait to talk to him."

"Don't you think you should go to talk to Thea?" he asked a little awkwardly but she was already walking in our direction. Several people looked at her, but then quickly looked away and I didn't blame them. While her expression was blank, her eyes were darker than usual, and I remembered a few months ago in the arena, when I'd been angry with Chiron and he had warned me that I was not the only powerful demigod at this camp.

"Where do you think she's going?" I asked and he finally spotted her when she drew level to us.

"Thea I-" Kyle started but she cut him off.

"Kyle if you say you're sorry I'm going to stab you." she said flatly. "There's no reason to think that Dennis and my father aren't perfectly alright. Not yet anyways."

"Right." He said and she looked up at me.

"You coming?"

"Yeah let's go."

I took her hand as we left the pavilion and made our way to the Big House.

"So. What are you going to do to Dennis when he's found?" I asked looking down at her.

"Tentative ideas include a catapult and a very cold landing in the lake."

Her eyes were narrowed slightly, but the mischievous glitter that I was using to seeing in them had gone out and I knew she was not as ok as she was pretending to be. How could she be? Last night she'd found out her father was missing, and now her favorite little brother had been added to the list.

"Of course we have to find him first." she continued stiffly.

"We will." I assured her. "He's thirteen-"

"Fourteen," she corrected automatically. "His birthday's in September."

"Fourteen," I amended then continued. "How far could he have gotten? Someone's bound to notice he's on his own."

"Adam, when I was fourteen I left camp and hitch hiked to Texas and back because I was bored. Our father is the god of travelers." She said seriously. "You think we don't know how to get places?"

She sighed.

"I made it half way across the country without direction and on a whim. Dennis is motivated. I'm sure he's already out of the state by now if that's where he's headed."

"I don't remember you going to Texas." I said frowning.

"I got back a week before you started coming to camp." She said. "I would have gone farther but," she shrugged. "It wasn't much of a challenge, I got bored. Austin nearly strangled me when I got back."

"You going to strangle Dennis?"

"I'm considering it." she said darkly as we stepped on to pouch of the Big House.

"Sounds like he's just like you."

At this she smiled slightly.

"Yeah I guess."

"So you don't need to be worried about him."

She didn't answer this and looked a little conflicted, as if she knew what I was saying made sense, but couldn't quite bring herself to believe it.

I held the door open for her, then followed her inside and we made our way to Chiron's office.

"Come in." he said wearily after I'd knocked on the door and we entered.

The office was in a state of chaos that I'd never seen it before. Books and papers were stacked everywhere as well as maps and magical items such as a compass and a bronze GPS that he'd no doubt been using trying to locate both Dennis and his father.

"I thought I'd be seeing you two soon." He said giving Thea and I shrewd look. "I take it you haven't heard from your brother either?"

"No." she said dropping into a desk chair and looking around at the maps. Xs and question marks dotted it along with dotted lines that I knew were possible paths Dennis could have taken to likely destinations.

"And you have no idea where he could have gone?"

"To our father." She said quietly. "But it sounds like no one but him has any idea where that might be."

"That about sums up the situation." He said with another sigh.

"What do you know?" I asked as Thea continued to scan the maps, obviously hoping for something to jump out at her.

"Not much that your father hasn't told you when he visited you last night." He said looking at me. "Thea's father was delivering a weapon for Hephaestus three days ago when he vanished and all communication with him was lost. Well, until last night. He managed to get a message to Dennis which it seems Dennis took with him when he left."

"How do you know he left?" I asked. I wasn't entirely convinced that he hadn't been taken. After all the things I'd seen, I'd believe anything of the gods.

"Because he packed before he left." Chiron continued. "His back pack as well as his wallet and some of his clothes are gone. Ambrosia is missing from the infirmary and he took his weapon."

"He's getting ready for mission." I said darkly while Thea stood and looked at a map on the wall. She seemed to have noticed something.

"Chiron." She said inspecting it closer. "Are you right or left handed?"

"Right." He said frowning and she'd seemed to hear what she expected. "Why?"

She didn't answer at first, only continued to inspect the map her eyes narrowed.

"Thea." I said and she blinked and looked at us.

"Because who ever wrote that." She said gesturing to a small string of Greek letters that were written on the map, the ink slightly smudged. "Is left handed. You can tell by the way their hand dragged over the letters as they wrote." She moved her left hand over the letters, pretending to write them in example. "I take it you didn't write this then?" she finished looking at Chiron whose eyes had gone wide.

"No." he said and I realized as I stared that the letters spelled her name. "But how did you-"

"I sit with Dennis when he writes his letters home." She said not looking away from the map. "He's left handed. His letters are always smudged like that."

"He's heading to Washington?" I asked confused looking at the location on the map where her name had been written.

"It makes sense." Thea said. "If he's looking for our father and he disappeared after meeting with Tess's dad."

"How does that make sense?" I asked confused.

"The only volcanoes in the continental U.S. are all located on the west coast." Chiron said as if this explained things and I glanced at Thea who'd spent a much greater part of her life in our parents' world and often had to explain things to me.

"Forges." She said quietly.

"It would explain how Hermes was caught if he was captured." Chiron said glancing at the map as well. "If they knew where he'd be they wouldn't have to keep up with him. They could simply set up a trap then sit back and watch."

I saw Thea's eyes flash but she didn't say anything.

"Good work Thea." He said looking down at her.

"Yeah, well this doesn't help us much." She said glaring at the map.

"What do you mean it doesn't help?" I asked incredulously. "We know where he's going."

"How do you expect to search a whole state?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"We don't have to." I said. "We just have to find the forge in Washington and…"

But my sentence faded when I saw them exchange wary looks.

"What?"

"There's almost a dozen volcanoes in Washington, Adam." Chiron said with a sigh. "And half of them are still active. Even if you went to all of them, you'd probably have to search the entire mountain range before you found Dennis, if he's even still there by the time you found the right one."

"There must have been more to the message," Thea said looking at the map again. "He's stubborn but he's not stupid."

"Sounds like someone I know." Chiron muttered but Thea ignored him.

"He wouldn't leave camp unless he knew where he was going. There's got to be something else. Do you see anything else you didn't write? On any of these?" She gestured to the maps all around the room but Chiron shook his head.

"No."

"Did he say anything before he left?"

"No." Chiron repeated. "He didn't say anything to anyone after he argued with me about being sent on a mission. The next morning he was just gone."

Silence fell in the room as we all continued to study the maps.

"I'm going to go check his room." She said after several minutes in which none of us found anything. "I know him better than anyone here, except maybe Hannah. Maybe he left something that wasn't recognized for what it was."

"Alright." Chiron said with a nod.

"You coming?" she asked me.

"Yeah."

Chiron looked as if he wanted to say something, and I knew he was going to point out that technically we weren't supposed to be in a bunk room alone together, but he refrained.

"C'mon." Thea said gesturing for me to follow her and together we walked out of the office.

"Do you really think he left you something to find?" I asked as we stepped out into the evening air and she put her hands in her pockets. Though it was October, it felt like summer night in the boundaries of the camp and while it was still warm, I couldn't enjoy it as much as I usually did. Not when things had gone so wrong.

"Yeah." She said breaking me from my thoughts. "Otherwise why would he leave me a message in Chiron's office?"

"What I don't get is why he didn't just tell you where he was going."

"He's buying time." She said fixing her eyes on her cabin in the distance where a few of her siblings were waiting on the porch, obviously hoping to hear news from our visit to Chiron's office. "He knows if we find him too quickly we'd just bring him back to camp. My guess is he thinks if we get close enough to figuring out where Dad ended up while we're trying to find him, you and I will stick around to try and find Dad."

Only then did it occur to me that in Thea's mind, she'd already assigned herself to this recovery mission which Chiron was most likely to assign to me.

"Will you?" I asked and she didn't answer at first but I knew what her answer would be.

"If it's a solid lead then yeah, I'm going to follow it." she said eventually. "I guess I can just send Dennis back with you or something."

"Are you insane?"

"What?"

"I'm not going to leave you in Washington." I said incredulously.

"What about Dennis?"

"I guess he'll just have to come with us."

"So you're going to help me babysit my little brother?" she asked and she managed a grin.

"Yeah, I guess so."

She let out a short laugh.

"I didn't realize we'd hit that point in our relationship. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to meet my father first."

"I have met your father." I said remembering the look he'd given me the last time he'd been at camp, when I'd been stupid enough to think I would have been able to make it through Hephaestus's maze without Thea's help. "I'm pretty sure he thought I was an idiot."

"Well maybe by the end of this if we find him, you'll be able to make a better impression." She'd grinned when she said it, but she seemed to have reminded herself that her father was in fact missing and it faded.

"Any tips?" I asked.

"What for meeting my dad?" she asked and I nodded.

"Yeah. Keep an eye on your wallet."


	5. Chapter 5

Ok, last chapter for the night. Hope you enjoy! Thanks for all the support!

Tpov

We didn't find anything in Dennis's room, not that I really expected to. He wouldn't have left anything too obvious behind if he wanted to burn time before he was found and several people had searched the cabin including Chiron, Austin, and all the rest of my siblings. I was sure he had left something though, and if I of all people couldn't find it, then I knew there was only one other place it could be.

'This place must be a nightmare for kids with allergies.' I thought vaguely looking around the Persephone cabin.

The sun was setting outside, but even in the dim light I could see all the flowers and plants that lined the room like the rest of the cabin. The walls were painted in cheerful pastel colors with pictures of flowers everywhere, but I hardly noticed this aggressively innocent décor. I wasn't here to make friends.

I'd been sitting on the neatly made bed four ten minutes now, just waiting. Finally, when the room was almost completely dark, I heard footsteps coming down the hall of the cabin and I knew she must have made up an excuse to come back before going to the campfire with everyone else.

The light turned on, and Hannah was so distracted she didn't notice me until I held up the envelope she'd locked in her trunk and said.

"Looking for this?"

"Gods Thea!" she said jumping and putting her hand over her heart in alarm. Her eyes fell on the letter and went slightly wide.

"You and I need to have a talk."

"It's not what you think." She started.

"This isn't from Dennis then?" I asked casually, looking at her name written on the envelope in his familiar hand writing. "And you didn't hide the fact he left you a message before he ran away from Chiron?"

She looked at her feet.

"You're going to tell me what you know, now."

"I don't know anything." She mumbled quietly. "He didn't tell me where he was going, you can read the letter if you don't believe me."

"I can't." I said calmly, while expending an enormous amount of effort trying to keep my temper in check.

"What do you mean?" she asked chancing a timid glance at me.

"I can't open it." I said tossing it on the nightstand in frustration. I was done with this game Dennis was playing. "Why else do you think I'm still here?"

"But I don't-" she started but I cut her off.

"It's enchanted." I fixed her with a glare. "It can only be opened by the person the letter was meant for. That would be you."

He must have gotten the envelope from one of the Hecate campers. I didn't know what Dennis was thinking running around on his own leaving this weird trail of clues behind him, but I now felt like I knew what it was like to be Chironm watching all these young demigods do idiotic things because they were too stubborn to admit that other people might know better than they did. I was starting to think I might owe him several apologies. He must have really loved teaching demigods, because I would not be able to put up with this for eternity.

"So." I said as her eyes fell on the letter. "You going to tell me what's going on?"

"I don't know." She said shaking her head. "I just woke up this morning and found it there." She said gesturing towards the nightstand. "He must have put it there before he left, but I swear I don't know anything. He didn't tell me where he was going or where he thought your dad was."

"What _did_ he say."

She hesitated before walking over to the letter and pulling a piece of paper out of the envelope then handing it to me.

"It doesn't say much." She said quietly. "I'm not even sure what you'd get out of it."

 _Sorry to do this to you Han, but I think I know where my dad is._

 _Even if you're angry now I hope you'll forgive me._

 _At least do me a favor and don't show this to anyone._

 _Thea should be the first one to see it, if I know her she'll find me._

 _This is the only way to get Chiron to send her after me and I need her help._

 _Like I said I'm sorry and I hope you forgive me_

 _Even if you don't you'll still always be my best friend ~ Dennis_

"I wanted to tell you." she said guilty as I finished the letter. "But Dennis didn't want anyone else to see it before you and you were surrounded by people all day."

"I can see why." I said feeling my eyes narrow as inspected the lines, making sure I was correct. "Chiron would have figured that out in an instant."

"Figured what out?"

"Where he's headed. He told you."

"But-"

"I'm taking this." I said waving the letter at her and standing.

"Thea, what's going on? Where is Dennis?"

"Probably half way to Washington by now." I said hardly registering her questions as I made my way out of the cabin and headed straight for the campfire.

"But why?"

I ignored her, still thinking.

"Thea-"

"Stop talking." I said irritated as I tried to picture the maps in Chiron's office and pull up any scrap of information I could remember of the west coast in my brief stint in a boarding school in Oregon.

"He's going to Rainier." I muttered to myself eventually. "He has to be."

"What-" she started but fell silent when she caught my expression.

"Find Chiron. Tell him I need to talk to him. Tell him I know where Dennis is headed."

"But how?" she asked.

"Do you want me to waste time explaining or start working on a plan to get him back?"

"I'll find Chiron." She said quietly and turned to run towards the Big House and I continued to the fire where campers were filtering in from evening activities as the sky dimmed, the sun shrinking behind the trees of the forrest.

My siblings, still uncharacteristically reserved, waved and motioned for me to sit with them, but I ignored this and made my way towards a knot of Hephaestus campers that were sitting on the opposite side of the fire.

"Hey," Tess said standing as I approached her. She'd been laughing with a couple of her sisters, showing them a pictures of her beach trip with Blake on her phone, but when she caught my expression she looked worried.

"Did you find anything in-" she started but I cut her off.

"Rainier." I said and she gave me a confused look. "What do you know about it?"

"You mean as a forge?" she asked and I nodded.

"Not much." She said frowning. "Dad doesn't spend a lot of time there. He prefers the volcanoes around it. Rainier's sort of like his in tray full of work that he ignores, stuff he just never really gets around to you know? But it's where he keeps some of his more powerful creations when they need repairs, so it's heavily fortified."

"Of course it is." I said with a sigh. Dennis was going to get himself killed…

"Why does it matter? What's going on?"

But before I could answer, I heard my name being called.

"Thea!"

I turned to see Adam and Chiron running, or I guess cantering in Chiron's case, towards the campfire with Hannah trailing behind him.

Several people turned to look at them as they skidded to a halt in front of us, but Chiron ignored their curious gazes and looked at me.

"Hannah says you know where Dennis is heading." Adam said and I realized he must have been with Chiron when Hannah had found him.

"Yeah."

"How do you know?" Chiron asked as around us people fell silent, all hoping for information.

"He left Hannah a message."

"And you're just telling us this now?" Adam asked furiously looking at Hannah who stared at her feet again, but Chiron had no interest in reprimands.

"Do you have it?"

I nodded and pulled the letter out of my back pocket, handing it to Chiron who held the paper out for Adam to read as well.

"I see." Chiron said quietly and Hannah's eyes fixed on him for an explanation, while Adam frowned at the letter looking just confused.

"I don't get it." Adam said looking at me. "How did you-"

"Look at the first letter on each line." I said and he glanced back at the letter.

"S.E.A… Seattle?"

Tess's eyes went wide.

"He's going to Rainer?" she asked in horror.

I nodded.

"You have to stop him." She said while her siblings broke out into horrified protests.

"You don't think I know that?" I asked her.

"No Thea you don't understand." She said her eyes going wide. "I told you, that's where Dad goes when he's _fixing_ things, not making them. Almost everything there, weapons, automatons, even traps are all completely haywire. It's totally unstable. One wrong step and he could set everything off. It's an active volcano, he might even cause it to erupt!"

People were whispering again, but I noticed my siblings had gone strangely quiet. The impact of what Tess had said seemed to be hitting them just as hard as it had hit me. Anxiety had closed in tight bands around my chest and I was finding it difficult to breathe as horrible images presented themselves in my mind, all of them of Dennis, trapped either by monsters or broken machines, or even worse, by the volcano itself.

"You two need to leave right now." Chiron said glancing between Adam and I bringing me back to the present. "Get packing. I'll arrange Argus to drive you into the city and you can leave from there. Hopefully you can reach him before he gets to the mountain."

Part of me expected Adam to protest or insist he take this mission alone but he didn't. Instead he turned to me and asked.

"You know what you need?"

I nodded.

"Meet me at the Big House in ten minutes."

The whispering had turned into a loud buzz of conversation now as people processed this new development in the camp's latest crisis with their family and friends. I ignored this however and like Adam, started running back to my cabin.

I quickly sorted through the duffle bag I'd brought for the week, grabbing weapons, ambrosia, and clothes as well as other various things like duct tape and a flash light that I might need. I then zipped the book bag shut, jogging to the entrance of the cabin.

I found most of my siblings on the porch.

"You got everything?" Austin asked as their eyes turned towards me and I nodded.

"How far do you think he's gotten?" I asked and he frowned.

"It depends on how he travels. I doubt he'd be able to get a plane or train ticket without being registered as an unaccompanied minor. My guess is he's taking the bus, in which case he might be about a quarter or a third of the way there depending on when he left."

"You'll tell us when you find him right Thea?" Jess asked quietly. Out of all of them she and her twin brother Kevin seemed the most miserable. I knew that besides Hannah, they were Dennis's best friends at camp.

Again they all looked at me and I felt my stomach shrink. Some people might have appreciated the look of absolute faith they were giving me, but it only made me feel worse. The barely controlled panic I'd been holding off since dinner was starting to creep up on me. What if I didn't find Dennis in time? What if I failed?

'Don't think like that.' I thought and smiled.

"Of course." I said. "I'll make sure to send you guys all post cards. We might hit up Hawaii before we come back just to piss Chiron off."

Several of them laughed, but I hadn't fooled Austin. He was looking at me, worried.

"You should go." He said.

"Good luck Thea!" Patty shouted as I shouldered the bag and started to jog to the Big House.

"Yeah, and when you kick Dennis's ass, make sure you say it's from all of us!" Jackson shouted.

I waved to show that I'd heard, then picked up my speed to see Adam was already waiting with Argus.

"Ready?" he asked and I nodded.

"Let's go then." He said looking at Argus who pulled out a set of keys, blinked his many eyes, and we made our way to the strawberry fields where the truck that delivered the strawberries we grew at camp was waiting.

"We're going to find Dennis." Adam said quietly taking my hand as we followed Argus. "Try not to worry too much. Everything will be fine."

"You keep saying that." I muttered. "Lately things just seemed to be snow balling from bad to worse."

"Yeah it's been a rough couple of days." He admitted. "But we'll get through it."

It was getting pretty dark now, the sun had completely set and I didn't answer but he didn't give up.

"Remember what you told me? Heroes endure because that's what people need them to do. Your brother needs you right now Thea and if nothing else focus on that."

"Adam, what if we don't find him in time?" I asked quietly.

"We will." He assured me. "And then you can spend the rest of break enacting your revenge."

"I'm good at that." I muttered and I saw him smile.

"Yeah. You are."

It didn't take long to get to the city, but when we reached it night had really fallen. Argus left us at a bus station on the edge of the city limits where we spent most of the night waiting, but eventually boarded a crowded bus headed towards a station in Illinois where we'd then take a second bus all the way to Seattle.

I'd tried to contact Dennis in the bathroom using a prism and my flash light, but the Iris message didn't go through. Reason told me that it wasn't the end of the world. Even if he hadn't answered that didn't necessarily mean that anything was wrong. He was probably just avoiding any calls at that moment so as not to give clues about his location. It didn't mean he was…

But I shook my head and looked around at the passengers, forcing myself to think of something else. I couldn't think like that, I couldn't even let thoughts close to that enter my brain.

"Exit sign." Adam quietly and I glanced towards the front of the bus, where a small sign was dangling over the door, it's words glowing green. I knew he was trying to get my mind off of Dennis, and I started thinking of ways I could manage to steal the sign without a bus full of people noticing, but my brain seemed jammed. I couldn't think.

He seemed to notice because for the first time, he made a suggestion.

"Personally, I'd pop one of the tires." He said taking my hand again. "We'd get down the road, it would go flat and the driver would have to evacuate the bus while he figured out what had gone wrong. Then, I'd make sure I was the last one off the bus, and hide it under my coat."

"What about the camera?" I muttered my eyes on the blinking red light at the front of the bus up next to the driver.

"Well there I have and advantage that you don't." he said.

"You do?" I asked and he grinned letting sparks dance between his finger tips.

"Do you know how easy it is to fry a circuit board?"

I smiled but we both froze when we heard a voice say.

"Whoa…"

We looked up to see a small kid two rows ahead, staring back at us his eyes wide. He had light brown hair and brown eyes that were staring at Adam in awe, obviously having noticed the electricity. He was holding on to his mother's hand, who was reading and like the rest of the mortals around us, clearly hadn't noticed anything.

I smiled at him and he hesitated, but then smiled back.

"What do you think?" I asked looking at Adam who stared uneasily at the child. "Demigod or clear sighted mortal?"

"Mortal I hope, for his sake. Otherwise he's in for a rough life."

I occupied myself wondering about the kid who'd turned back to his mother, trying to see if he displayed any Olympian traits.

About a half an hour later the bus left the station, and I was unsurprised to see that as soon as we hit the highway Adam had fallen asleep. He hadn't been sleeping well lately and I knew it must be taking its toll.

As the bus trundled down the road I tried to sleep but now that Adam was no longer talking to me, I found my brain refused to quiet. Fear and anxiety swirled inside of me as worst case scenarios presented themselves in my mind. What if we didn't find Dennis? Or what if we did and it was too late? Tess had said Rainier was dangerous, what if we got trapped? Or, gods forbid, what if we triggered an eruption? How would we survive that? What if my father was never found?

I shook my head and opened my eyes giving up on trying to sleep. It was just making things worse. I glanced at Adam, wanting to talk to him but also wanting to let him rest. We had a long trip a head of us and who knew when he'd be able to again.

I noticed the bus was slowing and looked out the window. It was still dark outside but I could see we were stopped at a train crossing. The warning bell was ringing as the gate lowered in front of the tracks and warning lights flashed on the sign. My eyes landed on a massive figure on the other side of the tracks and felt a jolt go through me, as if I'd missed a step going down the stairs. My heart rate increased, but it was too dark to see the figure clearly. I leaned closer to the window, but just as I thought I might be able to make out a face, the train rushed past cutting through my line of sight and when the train had passed, the figure was gone.

Fear flooded through me, but I had no idea why.

'It was probably just someone watching the train.' I tried to assure myself. 'Nothing to worry about.'

But I was worried. I couldn't explain it but anxiety was gnawing at me and I felt jumpy. My heart was beating even faster now and I looked around at the other passengers, most of whom were asleep and hadn't seemed to notice anything. I'd almost thought I'd invented him when I spotted the boy in the rows a head. His eyes were wide, and he looked terrified.

He seemed to feel my gaze, because he looked back and when his eyes met mine, I knew whatever I'd seen had been real. Finally, the boy spoke.

"You saw it too, didn't you?" he asked quietly as if afraid by speaking too loudly it would come back.

I nodded.

"What-what was that thing?"

My heart continued to pound and I thought for a moment in the distance I heard laughter. For some reason it sounded like Devin and when I looked out the bus window for a moment, I was certain I'd see him there, taunting me about Adam but all I could see was darkness.

"I don't know." I said softly as the bus's engine shuddered and we started to move again.


	6. Chapter 6

Apov

 _My heart rate increased as the dark walls shifted around me. They rose two stories into the air and while I knew exactly where I was it gave me no comfort. Why was I back here? What did it want from me? The walls continued to move as I started to run. Why was it every time I closed my eyes, it felt like I ended up back in the maze?_

 _I heard the growls and hisses of monsters as the archway materialized before me and I stepped through it, determined to save her this time. I wasn't going to watch her fall. Not again._

 _'You think you have any control?' a rough voice asked as I looked around desperately for Thea, but she was nowhere to be seen. 'Fear is something no one can control!'_

 _Suddenly, a tall shadowy figure appeared before me, surrounded by a haze of dark red mist that seemed to be over taking the chaos that had been so prevalent in my dreams lately. It spread around the room, surrounding the platform, changing the dark chaos to a deep blood red that matched the eyes of the figure in front of me._

 _"What's going on?" I asked unsettled. This dream always followed the same pattern, I'd find my self in the maze, I'd go through the arch way to find Thea falling, but this figure was new. None of this had happened before._

 _'Tell me son of Zeus.' It asked with a cruel curiosity. 'What do you most fear?'_

 _And then I heard it._

 _The figure laughed viciously as Thea's scream tore through me once again, I turned just in time to see the ledge cracking._

 _"No!"_

 _Ice shot through my heart and I ran while deep down knowing I wasn't going to make it._

 _She plummeted as she always did and I was forced to watch in slow motion as time dragged out my worst nightmare. I'd failed again…_

"Adam?"

I woke with a start and looked around in confusion wondering why I was sitting among rows of people until I spotted Thea next to me, looking concerned, and I was hit with a sudden flood of memories. We'd left camp what I realized must have been hours ago judging by the bright morning sunlight that was streaming through window my head had been resting on.

"Are you ok?" Thea asked still looking worried.

"Yeah." I said shaking my head in an attempt to force myself fully awake. After staying up most of last night I must have fallen asleep. "Why?"

"You were twitching." She frowning. "Really badly. You had a nightmare again didn't you?"

I nodded.

"Was it the maze?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah."

"I wish I knew how to stop them." She said bitterly her eyes turning towards the front of the bus. "You look like you didn't even sleep."

"So do you." I said and it was my turn to frown. "Did you sleep at all?"

She shook her head.

"Why not?"

At this she gave me an incredulous look.

"My father and brother are missing, and you're asking why I can't sleep?"

"You're going to have to at some point." I said. "It's a three day trip just to get there, do you really think you can stay awake this entire mission?"

She hesitated.

"I know." she said eventually. "I just can't." She looked exhausted and I could tell her emotions were fighting with reason. "Every time I try I just start thinking to much and..."

But her sentence faded and she shook her head.

"Where are we?" I asked looking out the window at that blank stretch of highway in front of and behind us. Apart from the autumn trees and an odd car here and there, I found nothing to indicate our location.

"We're about half way through Pennsylvania." She said. Thanks to a summer of cramming with the Athena kids, her grasp on U.S. geography had improved dramatically since our last mission together, although she sometimes intentionally messed up state capitals to annoy me.

"So we've got a long ways to go?" I asked and she nodded.

"Well then you really should try and sleep." I said and she glanced at me before relenting and saying.

"Can I borrow your nerd music?"

"You've been spending too much time with Daisy." I said scowling and she managed a smile.

I pulled my iPod out of the side pocket of my book bag and handed it to her, and as usual, within minutes of listening to the classical music she was asleep.

I stared out the window for a while, I wasn't sure for how long but eventually I too drifted back to sleep.

I didn't know how long we were out, but when I woke up, I found my head had been resting against Thea's, that had fallen on to my shoulder, and the sun was much higher in the sky. I didn't understand why I'd woken up until I felt the bus shudder underneath me and an aggressive noise rang through the cab.

"What's going on?" Thea asked yawning and glancing out the window. We were on a two lane road in the middle of what looked like a heavily wooded area, and the bus had pulled off onto the gravel shoulder.

"Sorry about the stop folks." The driver called back. "Engine trouble. I'm going to go check it out."

Thea rubbed her eyes and looked around as I watched the driver step off the bus and make his way towards the back of the bus.

Wondering how long this will take, I glanced at the trees thinking I'd seen something move between them but when I looked more closely, I didn't see anything.

"Adam." Thea said as I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the window.

"Yeah?"

"Was the bus scheduled to have any stops between Pennsylvania and Ohio?"

"No." I said through a yawn wondering why she was asking this.

"So then where did everybody go?" she asked and I sat up quickly.

I looked around the bus to see that Thea and I were the only passengers left on it. All the mortals that had been riding with us had vanished while we were asleep, and I looked outside again to see the bus driver was no where in sight.

"This isn't good." I said feeling anxiety creep through me. "We need to get out of here."

"And go where?" she asked raising an eyebrow gesturing to the window where I realized there was nothing but woods. "We're not in New York any more. It's not exactly like we can call a taxi. Even if we managed to find one the call would tell every monster within the next five miles where we are. They'd get here way before it did."

I hesitated knowing she was right, but we couldn't just sit here. Monsters would find us that way too.

"You've driven a bus before." I said looking at her.

"I've crashed a bus before." She corrected but I continued my line of thought.

"Think you could get this thing to the nearest town?"

But before she could answer, her eyes went wide.

"Adam…"

"Yeah?"

"Duck."

"Wh-" I started but she pulled me to the floor between the seats as a giant fire ball crashed through the window my head had just been leaning on, shattering the glass and filling the cab of the bus with smoke. Instantly, I went into survival mode. I didn't question what had happened, but sprang into action as flames sprouted up around us.

"Come on!" I said between coughs pulling my shirt over my nose, grabbing my bag, and taking her hand as she did the same.

More windows shattered as another fire ball hit the bus and it rocked on it's wheels. Staying low, we made our way to the back of the bus where an emergency exit was located. The bus rocked a second time with a third blast and I stumbled. Thea, who was always steady on her feet, caught me but even her balance couldn't stop her from being thrown off her feet as something massive rammed the bus.

"What the Hades was that?" I shouted picking myself up as she coughed but before she could answer, the bus was hit again.

"We need to get out of here!" she shouted clambering out of a seat she'd been thrown into, but a final hit had done it.

The bus shuddered a horrible groaning noise and then tipped on it's side.

The world seemed to turn in slow motion as metal creaked and broken glass fell around us. I grabbed a seat but saw Thea shoot passed me to the opposite row of windows that were now pressed against the road.

She cried out in pain as she landed on the jagged glass and instinct took over. I grabbed her, kicked open the emergency exit, and together we toppled out of the bus.

"Are you alright?" I asked pushing myself off the ground to see Thea was already on her feet, her sword already in her hand.

"Yeah." She said wincing and though her face was covered in ash and she had several cuts along her cheek and arm none of them looked too deep.

"What happened?" I asked as she helped me up and her response was to nod towards the burning bus where a massive figure was dethatching a horn from the side, obviously having been the thing that rammed it.

"Oh come on." I said furiously as the Minotaur staggered a little drunkenly away from the bus, obviously a little disoriented from the hit. "Who on Olympus thought giving that thing a weapon would be a good idea?"

Finally steady on it's hooves, a piece of the metal paneling still attached to it's right horn, I saw on it's furry back rested what looked like a flame thrower made of celestial bronze.

"Where do you even find a flame thrower that shoots fire balls?" Thea asked but her eyes went wide and she pulled me down again as it let out another string of smaller shots missing us by inches.

"He's a monster, he didn't find that on his own." I said furiously attempting to smite him as Thea dodged another massive fire ball, but it didn't work. He moved with speed that shouldn't have been possible for something his size and the lightning stuck the ground.

"Then how did he get it?"

"Someone gave it to him." I continued my eyes narrowed as the Minotaur aimed its weapon at us, but nothing happened.

"That would make sense." She said as the Minotaur was thrown off his feet as the machine backfired. "He doesn't seem to know how to use it."

She took this opportunity to charge and I ran after her, both our weapons ready.

The Minotaur seemed to have to given up on the flame thrower for the moment, because he shrugged it of his shoulders, charged at Thea, and not for the first time I was reminded just how terrifying my girlfriend could be.

She laughed as it's clawed hands shot for her throat, easily ducked out of it's reach, and slashed her blade against the Minotaur's calf. It roared with pain and rage clutching the injury, and she took the opportunity to jump, grab one if it's horns, and bring it down to the ground her sword at it's throat.

"What?" she asked after delivering the final blow and caught me staring at her.

"Nothing." I said as the monster dissolved into yellow powder. "Just remind me to never forget our anniversary."

She grinned.

"Afraid I'm going to go all medieval on you if you don't get me a present?" she asked.

"Yes."

She let out another laugh and let her sword shrink back into the necklace she always wore, then looked back at the pile of monster dust.

"Well," she said tersely, getting back to her feet. "Still think Cerberus would beat him?"

"What?" I asked completely confused, but when I caught her smile I realized what she was talking about. "That's different, he had a weapon. He wasn't breathing fire."

"Details." she said shrugging then kicking the pile of monster dust. "I don't know which form is uglier. This or his body."

"Forget about that." I said. "How did he get such an advanced weapon?"

We both turned towards the flame thrower that was shuddering and starting to smoke, and approached it cautiously.

"Any idea how to turn it off?" I asked her as it made a labored whining and continued to tremble more violently.

"No." she said kneeling next to it and inspecting the machine with a frown. "I think it's broken."

"What makes you think that?" I asked.

"The noise it's making." She said gingerly turning the flame thrower over and opening the back panel. "I heard it all the time in Tess's cabin when she was fixing things. Look."

She gestured towards a series of gears that were jerking uncoordinatedly and severed wires that were sparking.

"Who would give the Minotaur a malfunctioning weapon?" I asked but Thea was frowning. I could see that unlike the dying machine in front of us, her brain was working at full function. She seemed to have realized something.

"Probably the same person who has my father."

"We don't know-" I started but she cut me off.

"Where do you think he got this?" she asked gesturing towards the yellow dust then back at the flame thrower.

"I-" I started but she interrupted again.

"It's broken." She continued as the machine sputtered, made a gurgling noise, and died. "And this isn't just a toy. It was definitely made by Tess's father. And where did she say he takes things that needs to be fixed?"

"Rainier." I answered and she nodded.

"First my Dad vanishes after visiting one of Hephaestus's forges, then Dennis get's a message and takes off for Washington. Now the Minotaur shows up and he's got a weapon. Someone's there." She said darkly. "Someone who doesn't want us to find them. I wouldn't be surprised if we get more monsters sent our way."

She hesitated and I saw her glance at the flame thrower.

"Leave it." I said knowing what was on her mind. "What are we going to use a flame thrower for?"

"I think the question is what _aren't_ we going to use it for." She said with a grin.

"It doesn't even work properly."

"I guess you're right." She said shrugging and standing.

"You need ambrosia?" I asked as she grabbed a set of tweezers from the medical kit in her bag she'd dropped during the fight and started picking glass out of her cuts. She shook her head.

"No, I think I'll be fine."

"Are you sure because-"

But suddenly, the flame thrower whirred back to life and fired another shot. There was a loud 'BOOM!' and we were forced to take cover as an explosion rang from the bus.

"What the Hades was that?" I asked glancing at up half expecting a dragon to step out of the smoke and wreckage.

"Hit the gas tank probably." She said sounding unconcerned. She picked up herself up off the ground while shouldering her bag and looking at the twisted metal heap that was once our bus. "Well. Looks like we're going to have to walk."

"You don't think we should wait to see if someone comes to investigate?" I asked glancing down the road in either direction. "Someone's bound to notice this, and they might give us a ride."

"No one is going to come." She said shaking her head. "Look at this road. We're in the middle of nowhere and even if someone did come, the Mist will cover it up." She glanced back at the bus and looked a little irritated. "Gods, why do all bad things bus related happen to me in Ohio?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked frowning.

"You know I crashed a bus at my school." She said impatiently, putting her hands in her pockets starting to walk down the road. She looked as if she knew where she was going.

"Wait." I said jogging after her confused. "You used to go to school around here?"

"Yeah. We're like six miles from Apple Creek."

I stared at her and she looked a little amused.

"My home town."

"Oh." I said shortly. "Wait, you're from Ohio?" I asked incredulously, wondering how I could have gone this long without realizing this about my girlfriend.

"Why do you look so surprised?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know." I said honestly. Thea had lived at camp for years and I knew she had bounced around for a while before that, it never really occurred to me that she must have had a home somewhere prior to all that. I mean, obviously she had to live somewhere when she lived with her mother but still, if I had to have guessed where she'd grown up, I would have guessed a big city like New York or Detroit. Or maybe somewhere in California where the weather was always good. I could see a little version of her laughing and running around in the sunlight always outside getting into trouble. Ohio wouldn't have even crossed my mind.

"Alright then." She said sounding a little amused but not questioning me.

As we walked, I became uncomfortably aware of how little I knew about Thea before her life at camp. All I really knew was that her mother had passed away when she was very young and she'd gotten stuck with her aunt who she didn't like. After that, she was shipped off to different schools one of which was where she'd met Blake then wound up at camp. Even if she didn't like to talk about her past, this amount of knowledge was almost humiliatingly feeble.

I glanced down at her to see her hands were still in her pockets, her expression untroubled, and I wondered what she was thinking about. For the first time since the mission started she looked more like herself, less worried about her father and her brother, and part of me wondered if strangely, the monster fight had made her feel better.

Her prediction about being stranded came true however, and I found myself feeling grateful she hadn't listened to me and decided not to wait to be found. We passed no one as we followed the road and while six miles wasn't _that_ far of a walk, I knew if we'd waited much longer we'd run out of day light before we got anywhere.

We continued in silence for a very long time until at about four in the afternoon. We hit a small rural town with several farms and small suburban homes with big yards. I noticed the farther into the town we made it, the more uncomfortable Thea seemed to become. Almost everyone we passed stared at us in shock. I knew we must have looked a disaster after what had happened on the bus, but the attention we were attracting was not the kind I was used to after a monster attack. People were whispering, leaning closer to talk to each other as we passed, some even gesturing towards her.

"What's going on?" I asked after the fourth time this had happened. We'd agreed the best plan of action was just to get to the bus station, but what I thought would be a relatively simple trip was starting to be come very uncomfortable.

"It's a small town." She said tersely. "Everyone knows everyone here."

"So?"

"I didn't exactly have the best reputation." she said quietly and then I realized why this situation felt so different. They recognized Thea.

"You think they're really going to hold that over your head after all this time?" I asked but even as I said this, a blonde woman with a dark jacket gave her a nasty look and shoed her children to the opposite side of the road.

"Does that answer your question?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

I could tell that my presence with Thea was confusing the locals who were obviously wondering if I was another one of her troublemaking friends. For the first time I thought I knew how it felt to be a child of Hermes. I'd never had people glare at me like this before and it wasn't a fun feeling. Not once in my life had I been branded as a delinquent, but it was obvious that's what they were thinking of me now. They didn't know a thing about me, but they clearly did not want me here.

"Just ignore them." Thea, who'd dealt with this behavior for most of her life, said quietly. "The station isn't far. It's just up the street."

But when we finally made it to the bus station, we found that it was closed.

"Gods I always hated living in a small town." Thea said in frustration and glaring at the station hours. "They could at least leave up a sign with bus times!"

"Is there an automated ticket service?" I asked looking for any thing that might have looked like one.

"Adam, when I left Apple Creek I'm pretty sure it only had like _one_ working stop light. Do you honestly expect this tiny station to have anything like that?"

"Well then what do you want to do? We can't just stay here all night." I said. The sun was starting to set and she sighed, looking up at the rapidly darkening sky.

"I think I'd prefer to do that." She muttered.

"Prefer?" I asked confused. "What do you mean by that?"

"You'll see." She said shaking her head but gesturing for me to follower her.

"Where are we going?" I asked falling into step next to her.

"My Aunt's, she doesn't live too far from here." Her expression was hard to read but her tone was bitter.

"The one that doesn't like you?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yeah." She said flatly. Clearly she was unhappy about the situation and while I tried to think of an alternative nothing came to mind.

"Well." I said a little awkwardly. "Who knows? Maybe she'll be happy to see you. Sometimes time and distance can put things in to perspective for people. I mean, you are related."

"Yeah, maybe." She said hollowly and I could tell by her expression her hopes weren't high. "Let's just get moving."


	7. Chapter 7

Tpov

I stared apprehensively at the white suburban house with black shudders and a matching door, feeling as if I'd rather be anywhere but here. It was cute with neat shrubs dotted along the carefully planned landscaping, and a huge elm tree stood in the front yard which I found myself staring at. It was the one thing I liked about this house. I always used to climb up there and read in it when I was upset. I loved it so much growing up that I remembered my aunt threatening to cut it down if I got in trouble at school again. As if her HOA would let her do that…

"Shall we?" Adam asked and I realized I'd been staring at the tree for several minutes.

"I guess." I said softly. I took his hand and pulled him up the drive way to the front of the house.

The door bell was familiar, as was the tall girl that was about my age with black hair and light brown eyes that answered the door.

"Oh my god." My cousin said looking stunned. "You're back."

"Hey Emma." I said as she took in my tattered appearance.

"What… what happened to you?"

"Who is it Em?" her brother James asked from the hall, but she was still staring at me her eyes wide and I heard him walk towards us obviously coming to investigate the new arrival. He was a head taller than Emma, and a year older, with the same dark hair and brown eyes that narrowed when spotted me.

"What are you doing here? I thought you'd left for good."

"I need to talk to your mom."

"She's not here." He said darkly. "She's showing a house." His eyes landed on Adam whose expression was hard to read, but I knew to James must seem intimidating. "Who's the hell this?"

I ignored his question and asked my own.

"When will she be back?"

"In an hour." Emma said still looking as if she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.

"A time in which you'd better disappear." James said scowling.

"Look, we just need to stay here until the bus station opens again. Then we'll leave and you won't hear from me again."

"How about you leave now _and_ we never hear from you again."

"James." Emma said reproachfully giving him a cautious glance.

"No, I'm not letting you stick up for her anymore." He said angrily.

"It's just one night." She reasoned.

"I don't care!" and he turned furiously to me. "You left remember? And we're better off without you."

There were a number of responses I had to this. So many in fact, that it took me a moment to decide which should come out, but before I could say anything Adam had decided to intervene.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong." He said glancing at James with obvious dislike. "But your mother is Thea's legal guardian, isn't she?"

"So?" James snapped.

"Adam don't," I said shaking my head seeing where he was going with this but he ignored me.

"So, Thea's been gone for years. She didn't bother to look for her. I'm sure to any competent judge that's a blatant case of neglect. I wonder just how much trouble she'd get in if someone were to raise this to their attention."

"Is that a threat?" James asked aggressively.

"Yes." Adam said crossing his arms over his chest and looking at James as if he were debating crushing him like an insect.

It was weird to hear Adam threatening anyone and to see him looking so angry. He was a pretty patient person, putting up with almost everything in order to avoid getting upset and losing control of his powers. Often I forgot just how intimidating he could be. But even my cousins, who were mortals, could sense the power radiating from him now. Emma was glancing at him anxiously and James immediately backed off.

"Whatever." He said uncomfortably and turned back into the hall disappearing towards the dinning room and after one final look at Adam, Emma turned to me.

"C'mon." she said quietly holding open the door.

"Thanks Em." I said awkwardly stepping into the house followed by Adam.

He looked around apparently curious, but I didn't find the interior very interesting. Some of the furniture was different but for the most part it looked just like it had when I'd left, like an interior designer had personally put together every room. Minimalist art lined the walls, as well as inspirational quotes and decorative pillows were just everywhere. Vaguely I remembered how much trouble I'd gotten into the first and only time Blake had been allowed over. I grinned as I remembered the smell of butane and burned feathers.

"I guess you guys can wait in here 'til she gets back." She said gesturing towards the living room where James was flopped on the couch, but when he spotted us, he made an irritated noise and muttered something about going to his room.

"So he still hates me." I said flopping into the seat he'd vacated and Adam sat next to me.

"Don't take it personally." She sighed. "You know it's not about you."

She glanced at Adam.

"So who…" she started a little awkwardly and I remembered that they hadn't actually been introduced.

"Right. Em this is Adam. Adam, Emma's my cousin."

She nodded uncertainly then looked back at me.

"What happened to you guys?"

"Our bus broke down." I said.

"And what? Exploded?" she asked looking at the soot and scratches that covered us both.

"Yeah actually."

"Did you crash that one too?"

"Believe it or not no." I said grinning and while she didn't smile, she didn't look angry about my sudden arrival like James had. Out of everyone in my remaining mortal family, she was the by the far the one I'd gotten along with best. We were in the same year at school and had even shared a room when I lived here, but she'd never been totally comfortable around me. I knew she was conflicted because of how much her brother and her mother disliked me, but there were times when we had had fun together. I had a feeling it was the only reason she hadn't slammed the door in my face.

"I'm going to call Mom and tell her you're here." She said quietly and left to grab her cell phone leaving Adam and I alone.

"Well those are my cousins." I said leaning back against the cushions and taking one of the pillows in my hands.

"Emma seems nice." He said looking after her.

"Yeah she's a sweet heart."

"What's James's deal?"

"It's a long story."

"Seems like we've got time." He pressed and I hesitated, for some reason finding it hard to look at him. Instead, I looked at the TV James had left on, which was broadcasting a program about cars that I knew Tess would have liked.

"He blames me for his parents' divorce." I said eventually.

"How could that possible be your fault?" he asked and I sighed.

"Because my uncle, well I guess he's not my uncle anymore, but he didn't want me. After my mother died, my aunt offered to take care of me and well, he knew I was going to be trouble and he didn't want me anywhere around his kids."

"That seems unfair." Adam said quietly. "You'd just lost your mom."

I shrugged.

"I mean, he had a point. I'd always been a little wild and it didn't get better after my mom got sick. If anything it was worse. I already spent most of my time here since there was no one at home to look after me and I didn't know what to do about my mother's condition, so I had a tendency to act out. My aunt did everything she could but she was stuck between a hard place and a rock. She was trying to juggle her kids, taking care of her sister, her career, a failing marriage, and the kid who'd started her issues with her husband in the first place, but she couldn't justify getting rid of me either. My mother and her were really close. She and her ex argued about me a lot. He wanted send me to military school and despite all the issues I had with her, the one thing that could be said was that she knew my mother wouldn't have wanted that and refused to do it. I think after he left her though, it was too much. She was too tired to deal with me and all of her problems. So she sent me where ever she could and was angry when I came back and reminded her of her dead sister, her ex husband, and the fact she couldn't handle her own niece. Honestly, I think it was a bit of a relief for her when I finally stayed gone."

"Well it's their loss." He said quietly and I grinned.

"I don't think they'd agree, but it's nice of you to say."

He smiled and put and arm around my shoulder, and I leaned my head against his as we waited. I didn't know how long we sat there, but finally, I heard the front door open and I stood, taking Adam's hand, and dragging him into the dining room as my Aunt walked in digging through her purse looking harassed. She looked very like James and Emma, with the same dark hair. Her eyes were a warmer shade of brown than her children's though. The exact same color as my mothers.

She didn't notice Adam and I at first, but when she finally looked up she froze, taking in our appearance. She sighed and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose as if trying to gather her patience. She'd done the exact same thing the first time she'd had to deal with one of my expulsions.

"Please tell me this doesn't have anything to do with the over turned bus they found." She said sounding resigned.

I didn't answer, feeling guilty and strangely like a little kid again. She seemed to gather the worst from my lack of response however, and muttered something that sounded like.

"Why me?"

Eventually, after several calming breathes, she fixed me with a gaze that was resentful. As if _my_ being caught in a bus explosion had made _her_ life difficult.

"Alright Thea, let's hear it." she said and I saw my cousins drift into the hall, hesitating, as if not sure they wanted to hear this conversation or not. "What did you do this time?"

Apov

The Greek gods were well known for their infidelities and when it came to extra marital relationships, my father was probably the most infamous of them all. He'd had several kids outside his marriage, I mean, I was a living example, and his wife was one of the most terrifying goddess on Olympus. She stood for marriage and fidelity and made a habit of trying to kill his 'extra' children over the centuries. That being said. I'd been in the same room with my father and Hera, and I'd never felt as much tension in a situation as I did during Thea's conversation with her aunt.

It didn't last long and there was a fair amount of lying involved on Thea's part, enough to tell me that her aunt had no idea who her father really was, but eventually her aunt agreed to let us stay until we caught a bus out of Apple Creek and got back on the road to Seattle. After she'd said something about having work to do, which I was pretty sure was just an excuse to get away from Thea, we'd gone to the guest room where I'd be staying in for the night and had been pretty much left alone.

"I can't wait to get out of here." Thea said closing her eyes and leaning back with her head behind her hands. It was late and night had fallen. We'd climbed out the window to a section of roof that jutted over the porch of the house. We watched the stars as we talked, and while we'd done this several times back home, night here wasn't like night in DC. There were so many lights and so much going on in the city that nighttime didn't really feel like night, more just like a really dimly lit day. But here in, as Thea described it, 'Literally the definition of middle of nowhere,' it was dark and outside nothing moved. I'd never seen so many stars.

"I dunno." I said shrugging and looking around. "It seems like a nice little town."

She made a noise that sounded half irritated, half amused.

"Yeah. That's why mom always said about it."

"You can't see yourself settling down in a place like this?" I asked curiously.

"Settling down? What are we in our thirties?"

"No." I said shrugging before remembering that she probably couldn't see. "I'm just saying. Ending up in a place like this wouldn't be the worst."

"You think too much about the future."

"You don't?" I asked and she didn't answer at first.

"I think I'd rather end up in a place full of people don't hate me." She said eventually.

"But seriously," I said looking down at her. There was no moon tonight so the only light was coming from the houses on the street, but from what I could see of her expression, it was pensive. "What do you want after we're done with school?"

"You mean if we don't get eaten by a manticore or something?" she asked and I could tell she was smiling.

"Can you be serious for two seconds?" I asked and she laughed.

"But you're so fun to mess with."

"Thea." I said in frustration and she stopped.

"Alright." She said her voice calmer. "The truth is I hadn't thought about it much. It was only just a few months ago that I even realized I was going to graduate from a high school so I'm still working around that."

"So you can't think of anything?"

"Why is this so important to you?"

"Just curious."

I'd known what I'd wanted since I'd seen it in Aphrodite's mirror, and while Thea knew I'd had a vision that involved her, I hadn't told her everything I'd seen. We hadn't been dating for that long yet, and that seemed like a lot of unnecessary pressure to put on someone who'd never even had a boyfriend before. Part of me wondered what she thought of our future, or if we even had one, but I guess I wasn't surprised at her answer. She didn't talk about her past much and I don't think she really thought about the future at all. Even if she did, I was certain she didn't think about it for long. Thea was the kind of person who lived in the moment, she had been for as long as I'd known her, but still. I would have liked to have known where her head was at. Months later it still felt as if she could read my mind and I could only guess at what was on hers. I'd gotten better at recognizing her moods and what they meant, but when it came to what she was really thinking. Well, maybe she'd always be a bit of a mystery to me.

We stayed there for a while each lost in our own thoughts until a knock caused us both to look down over the ledge of the roof, to see Emma poking her head out of the open window and looking up.

"Mom has the bus schedules printed out if you want to look at them."

"Great." Thea said flipping off the ledge and back into the room like it was nothing while I followed her much more cautiously.

"She's in her office." Emma said as we shut the window behind us and Thea made her way towards the door.

"Want me to come with?" I asked but she waved me off.

"Nah, it won't take long. I'll meet you back here."

"Alright." I said and I was left in an awkward silence with Emma who seemed unsure if she should say something or just leave.

"She still likes being on the roof then." She said glancing at me, obviously trying to gauge my reaction to her attempt at a conversation and I felt a little guilty. I had a feeling when I'd spoke to her brother earlier I might have scared her.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised how much time she spends on them." I agreed trying to seem as mortal and non threatening as possible and she looked a little encouraged.

"I don't know about that. Mom used to go crazy at her because she used to do her homework up there."

"Really?" I asked interested and she smiled at the memory.

"Yeah. She said it helped her think." She said with a bit of a laugh and I grinned as well. I could just see a tiny version of Thea, maybe in elementary school and just starting to grow into her abilities, not understanding why the adults had an issue with an eight-year-old wandering up to the roof, convinced as she always was that she wasn't going to fall.

"Yeah, she still likes to be up." I said and she gave me a conflicted look.

"You guys aren't like, engaged, or anything weird like that, right?"

"What?" I asked completely floored.

"I noticed she was wearing that ring." She said a little awkwardly. "And I dunno, she seems like the kind of person crazy enough to elope and you guys are going across the country together…"

"No." I said shaking my head. "It's nothing like that."

"So who are you?" Emma asked curiously.

"Adam." I said wondering why she was asking this. We'd already been introduced, had she forgotten?

"I know that." She said and I thought she looked rather like her cousin as she rolled her eyes. "How'd you and Thea meet anyways? You don't seem like the usual type of person she'd hang around."

"Why's that?"

"I dunno." She said shrugging. "Thea's always had a hard time making friends, and the one she did make were always from her reform schools. The kind of people you'd avoid walking down the street you know? But I don't get that impression from you. You seem pretty normal."

"We met at camp."

"Camp?" she asked looking confused.

"Yeah. Camp Halfblood."

Still nothing.

"The place she's been living for the passed several years…"

"She was at a camp?" she asked and I stared at her.

"Did you honestly not know where she was?" I asked incredulously and Emma shrugged.

"Thea was never really around even when she lived here. She kept getting into trouble or would run away then end up getting dragged back home until our mother couldn't take it any longer and sent her to boarding schools where they'd deal with her problems, then she'd run away from those too. To be honest I thought she'd end up with that maniac Blake, not someone like you."

"Blake lives around here?" I asked frowning.

"Ah, so you've met him too then?" she asked and I nodded. "Well he used to live around here but he left a while ago. The day he turned eighteen he split and headed for New York. Apparently he's got a girlfriend that lives up there now, but when people around here talked about it I thought they meant Thea."

"How many times do I have to tell you Em." Said Thea and we looked up to see her leaning against the frame of the door, her nose wrinkled. "Dating Blake would be totally gross, like dating my brother."

"You don't have a brother." Emma said rolling her eyes and while she grinned, I could see pain flash behind Thea's eyes, obviously thinking about Dennis. "But speaking family, there was something I wanted to give you."

"What?" Thea asked curiously but Emma shook her head.

"I'll be right back."

She crossed the room and passed Thea on the way into the hall, and Thea watched her for a moment before coming into the guest room and sitting on the bed.

"Bonding with Emma?" she asked grinning at me.

"You didn't tell them where you were?" I asked looking down at her and she shrugged.

"I don't think they really cared to know."

"So they've no idea what you've been up to for nearly five years?"

"Does it matter?"

"Emma might have wanted to know." I said looking at the door and Thea frowned. She looked a little guilty.

"I've wanted to send this to you for ages." Emma said stepping back into the room holding a small photo book. "But I never had an address."

She handed Thea the book which she opened and her eyes went wide.

"You kept these?" she asked in shock and I saw several pictures of what was obviously a very young Thea with a pretty woman with black hair, kind brown eyes, a smile that I'd gotten know very well over the passed few months.

"Yeah, I thought you'd like to have them, you know, if you ever came back."

"God I forgot about these." Thea said quietly looking at the photos of her mother and smiling slightly. She turned a page and laughed when I spotted a picture of her, a few years older, her arm around a boy with short blonde hair and dark eyes. They were wearing matching polo's and making funny faces at the camera.

"Is that Blake?" I asked hardly recognizing him without the piercings and the dyed hair.

"Yeah. This was taken the week before I was expelled." She said grinning still looking through the photos then looking up at her cousin. "Thanks Em."

"Yeah, of course." She said giving Thea what looked like her first genuine smile since we arrived.

There was a bit of an awkward pause where no one seemed to know what to say and Emma cleared her throat.

"Well, I'm going to go to bed. I guess you're heading out tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Thea said. "There's a bus is leaving tomorrow at three."

"So I probably won't see you before I get back from school."

"Yeah probably not." Thea agreed and Emma seemed on the verge of saying something. She glanced at me, then hesitated before turning back to Thea.

"It was good to see you again." She said and Thea looked surprised. "I know you probably didn't want to come back but I'm glad things seem to be working out for you. You know, even if you look like been mugged." She said glancing at our various injuries. "You seem happy."

"Yeah, it was good to see you too." Thea said quietly.

"Right." Emma said awkwardly. "Well, night."

She turned and it was Thea's turn to hesitate, but eventually she said.

"Wait up Em."

Emma, who'd reached the door, paused and looked over at her cousin.

"Yeah?"

Thea took a picture out of the photo book and a pen from the desk tucked away on the opposite side of the room, then scribbled something on the back of the photo.

"Here's an address," she said and I saw the photo was of two young girls with back packs and bright smiles, their arms linked and I guessed it was a photo of their first day of school. "You know. If you still want one."

Emma took the picture and turned it over to see what Thea had written.

"You live in DC now?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, I go to school with Adam." She said gesturing back at me. "The name is at the top if you're ever in the city and want to stop by."

"Isn't that that private school?" She asked frowning looking at her cousin in confusion and Thea nodded.

"But how-" she started and Thea shrugged.

"Things are going a lot better for me now."

Emma turned the picture over and looked at it.

"Yeah." She said eventually. "I look it up next time I'm there."

"We can go on one of those Segway tours," Thea said grinning. "If I'm not banned from them at that point."

"Do I want to know?" Emma asked looking at me and I shook my head.

"Not really."

"Alright." She said sounding a little amused. "I'll see you around Thea."

"See you Em."

She smiled at us one final time and finally went back into the hall and Thea stared after her for a moment, but then blinked and flopped on to the bed.

"Well that was unexpected." She said frowning and contemplating the ceiling.

"I thought it was kind of nice." I said leaning over her and she scowled. "You know, family bonding and all that."

"I get along with your sister better than you do." She said sourly.

"Yeah, well that's because you're both made of the same kind of weird." I said and she grinned.

"Hey, you're the one dating the weird chick."

"You know Emma thought we were engaged." I said sitting next to her ready to gauge her reaction, but she laughed.

"Yeah, I guess I could see why she'd think that." She said glancing at her hand where the ring rested but I noticed she didn't remove it.

"You trying to tell me something there, Reign?" I asked smirking down at her and she rolled her eyes, her voice flooded with sarcasm.

"Oh totally. Because getting married at seventeen has no drawbacks at all. What could possibly go wrong?"

I laughed.

"You mean besides still being in high school, having no where to live, and being unemployed?" I asked and she grinned.

"Yeah, besides that."

"Well, my mom would kill you."

"I've always wanted to know what the Hades looked like."

"It's not that great." I assured her and she looked up at me.

"So it's official then?"

"What is?"

"That we shouldn't get engaged." She said laughing again.

"I guess." I said amused while a quiet voice in the back of me mind whispered.

'At least not yet.'


	8. Chapter 8

Tpov

I woke up early the next morning. I wasn't sure why, but it was long before anyone else in the house had stirred. I glanced at the clock on the wall in the living room where I'd been sleeping and realization flooded through me when I saw the date.

It had been ten years ago today…

Feeling no desire to go back to sleep, I folded the blankets, found my hoodie and put it on. After tying my shoes, I left a note for my aunt then stepped out into the chilly October morning seeing my breathe cloud in front of me. My clothes weren't quite warm enough for the weather, but I knew I had a bit of a jog ahead of me and I would warm up on the way there.

I let my mine go blank as I ran, enjoying the feeling of not having to think. I'd always liked running. I was good at it. I guess maybe if I'd had a more normal childhood I probably would have ended up on a track or cross country team. Maybe I would have had an easier time making friends there. Now that I was home, I found thoughts of a life that could have been were intruding on me constantly and I followed this line without really meaning too. What would my life had been like if I'd lived like a mortal? My mom and maybe her boyfriend, if she ever ended up dating again, would come watch the meets. Would I have met Adam? Or would I have ended up dating someone from Apple Creek? I tried to think of any boy I could stand from my school besides Blake, but came up with nothing. Anyone in comparison to Adam just seemed a disappointment and I tried to think of an alternative universe where, if I'd never gone to camp, I still met him. Maybe one of us would be on vacation, though I couldn't imagine his parents and my mother taking us to any of the same places. Still, it was a nice thought.

Three miles later I'd made it to the church and the sun had fully risen, but when I pushed through the iron gate behind it, I found I wasn't alone.

"I'd heard you'd come home Thea." said an elderly man in a brown jacket and golf cap, without turning from the rose bush he was trimming. "It's good to see you found your way back. It's been a while."

"I've been away." I muttered and he grinned over his shoulder at me, his gray eyes wrinkling at the corners in a way I found familiar.

"Yes you've been busy over these past few years haven't you?" He said cutting the stem of one of the flowers and holding it out for me to take. "But it was nice of you to come and visit her while you were in town. It's nice to see you again."

"Yeah you too." I said accepting the rose.

Though he was about fifty years older than me, Jerry was one of the few people in Apple Creek I'd been friends with. Maybe it was because we were both considered outsiders. The church didn't have an official caretaker for the cemetery and people didn't understand why someone would voluntarily spend so much time in a graveyard, but I thought out of the people in the town, he was the best of them. I'd met him while visiting my mother every once and a while when he was either tending to the plants or visiting his wife. Originally I didn't want to talk to anyone while I was here, but he eventually managed to strike up a conversation with me. It was awkward at first, part of me couldn't help but wonder why someone so much older than me was so determined to talk to me, but I'd started to look forward to seeing him on my visits. He was the one who'd convinced me to at least try and talk to my mother when I came to visit. I'd always thought it was a stupid exercise, but I found it did help. He'd often help me when I found it was difficult to say the things I really wanted to say, and even introduced me to his wife and told me stories about their marriage before she'd passed away.

"Say hello to her for me." He said kindly as I started making my way through the head stones.

"Yeah. Tell Opal I say hi." I said and with a final smile, he returned to his gardening.

I walked passed several rows of headstones until I reached a dark slab of granite standing about two feet high with the name 'Marina Eleanor Reign' engraved in it in heavy gothic letters that I'd always hated, but with wings coming off either side which I was almost certain my father had something to do with.

I saw that a rose was already at the grave and knew Jerry must have beat me here this morning. I smiled and laid my rose next to his, then sat with my back resting against the headstone like I'd done for so many didn't like looking at the head stone if I could help it. It was so dull and depressing, nothing about it reminded me of my mom. If I had my way, I would have made the marker out of multi colored glass with pins wheels attached to it or something fun and unique like her, but my aunt had put her foot down. She said it wasn't respectful, but my mom wouldn't have cared. She would have liked knowing it made people smile, or at least that it might confuse them.

I don't know how long I sat there, it usually took me a while before I was ready to speak, but finally, after what I guessed to be a half an hour, I felt ready.

"Hey Mom." I said quietly. "I know it's been a while. I'm sorry I haven't visited. I've been kind of far…"

I didn't know why I hesitated. Maybe some part of me was still hoping for some sort of response after all this time, but as always nothing came. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back to rest against the granite.

"I know you've probably been worried about me since the last time I was here." I said as memories of different states and new schools presented themselves to my mind in no particular order. "I was on the go a lot, moving from place to place but I thought about you a lot, and well, I think you'd be proud of me now."

I felt an ache in my throat and my eyes burned, but I bit my lip trying to smile through it. I knew she liked it when I'd smiled. It was why I always tried to. She said it reminded her of my father, saying that no matter what happened in their time together, he always was able to make her laugh.

"I'm finally doing well in school. I've even got a boyfriend now." I said brushing my hair out of my face as a gentle breeze tugged at it. "I think you'd like him. He's much more well behaved than I ever was. I just wish that you could have," but I cut myself off as my voice broke slightly and I glanced up at the leaves that were swaying in the light wind that I now realized was familiar.

I looked up to see Adam a few feet away, holding a bouquet of white roses, obviously giving me space.

"I saw the note you left your aunt." He said apologetically crossing to me and laying the flowers at the head stone. "I just figured you might not want to be alone."

I shook my head and wiped my eyes feeling embarrassed, and he sat next to me, pulling me into his lap and resting his chin on my shoulder.

"She would have liked the flowers." I said quietly. "Dad always used to send her flowers on her birthday. They looked just like those."

"Well, next year we can come back and make sure she gets them again."

"Yeah." I said wiping my eyes again and I felt his arms wrap around me.

"I would have liked to have met your mom." He said kindly. "The way you talk about her, she seemed really nice. And I bet she could tell me lots of great stories about you growing up."

"My aunt will tell you plenty of stories." I said a little bitterly.

"I mean happy stories. You always get the same smile when you think about your Mom. I like seeing it."

"Yeah she was a sweet heart." I said softly. "She worried about me all the time. I wish should could have seen things turned out ok." I grinned. "Though I'm pretty sure she expected me to end up with someone much different."

"Like who?" he asked.

"I dunno. Piercings, tattoos, maybe a drummer in a band. Definitely someone with a record." I said and he laughed.

"Sounds like Blake." He said amused and I laughed.

"Maybe."

"Who did you think you'd end up with?"

"I always knew I wanted you." I said quietly. "Ever since you caught me trying to steal your wallet."

"Really?" he asked and I grinned.

"Yeah."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know how to explain it." I said shaking my head. "I guess maybe because you caught me. That doesn't usually happen, but you seem to do it a lot. That and you got this adorable look on your face. Not like you were scared, like you should have been when a stranger pulls a knife on you, but like you were surprised. As if I interested you. No one had ever looked at me like that before."

"You definitely caught my attention."

"I just wish she could have met you." I said quietly.

"Yeah me too." He said gently.

We sat in silence for a moment until he spoke again.

"Look Thea, I don't know really know what to say to make you feel better. You know I'm an idiot when it comes to feelings. But I know what I'd say to your mother if she were here."

"What?"

"I'd tell her that her daughter is the most amazing person I've ever met." He said gently as he pulled me closer to him. "And that includes gods. I'd tell her that things turned out ok for you and that you are the top of your field at school. She'd see how beautiful you are, but I'd tell her anyways. And I'd tell her how smart and tough you'd become over the years, but also how you're always able to make people laugh and be a friend to anyone who needs it. And I'd tell her how much I love you."

I didn't know what to say to this but he didn't seem to require an answer. He simply let me lean against him and continued.

"I'm sorry your mom's gone Thea." He said softly. "But if she was anything like you, I know she was an amazing person."

We sat for a while not talking until he suggested we should probably get something to eat before we headed towards the bus station. The bus wasn't scheduled to stop for several states.

We ended up in a diner that reminded me of Ronald's by camp, and for the first time in what must have been years, I really opened up to someone about my mother. He didn't talk much but listened, but I found I didn't need him to say anything. He seemed to enjoy the stories of her taking me on her delivery routes on the days I'd been suspended from school and our vacations to roller coaster parks where I had loved the drop towers that she'd been terrified of.

"For the love of Olympus." He said putting his head in his hands after I'd finished telling him the about time I'd nearly given my mother a heart attack by doing a hand stand on the railings at Niagara Falls.

"I was fine." I said shrugging.

"Not that." He said shaking his head. "Just whatever you do act natural and don't turn around. Try not to draw attention to us."

"Why?"

"Because we're already looking for one god." He muttered stiffly. "I don't really feel like dealing with another."

This raised several questions but from his expression I figured it was best just to ask them later. I continued eating my fries, but I guess it didn't matter how naturally I ate them, because not thirty seconds later I felt someone drop into the booth next to me, and a warm arm go around my shoulder.

"Well what do we have here?" said an amused voice. "My half brother and my niece wandering so very far away from camp."

I looked up to see a tan, attractive young man who looked to be in his early twenties with surfer style golden hair and deep blue eyes that were looking at Adam's scowl amused. He wore board shorts even though it was almost November, and his T-shirt had the words 'The World Revolves Around Me' written on it.

"What do you want?" Adam asked stiffly and though usually very respectful to those in authority, I knew he had issues with Apollo. It was on a mission rescuing one of his sacred cows Adam had lost friends, and I could tell he did not appreciate the reminder.

"So hostile." Apollo said in frowning in disapproval. "Honestly I don't know why people on Olympus are so fussed about you. Your girlfriend is far more interesting." He said beaming down at me. "You know it takes a lot of guts to refuse my sister."

"Thanks." I said a little awkwardly noticing Adam's scowl darken. "Uh, what are you doing here?"

"Well, seeing as Artemis has decided to run off with her little single ladies club and shirk all forms of responsibility, and I'm the only one with a vehicle that's fast enough, our good King Zeus has delegated the role of messenger to me while your father is away." He said looking a little irritated about this. "I must say, it is a rather uninteresting job. I'm starting to see why he gets up to so much trouble, otherwise he might just die of boredom."

"We have a message from Olympus?" I asked confused.

"No."

"Then why-"

"Because I hate this job." He said frowning. "I'm a musician, a poet. I can't be having my creative energies wasted on things as trivial as delivering griping notes between Hephaestus and Aphrodite about their horrible marriage and I have no interest delivering battle strategies between Ares and Athena. You two are taking too long." He said sulking and giving us an accusatory tone as if he thought this was intentional. "So I'm here to give you a lift."

"You're going to take us to Seattle?" I asked in disbelief but Adam looked suspicious.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch." Apollo said shrugging.

"God's never do anything for free." I agreed looking up at him and he scowled looking annoyed

"I just told you." he said darkly. "You hurrying it up would be doing me a favor. I want Hermes found and while personally I'd love to be looking for him myself I've got messages to deliver. And besides, it seems like only one person knows where he might be right now. And I have a feeling only you'd be able to find him."

He gave me a significant look and I realized he must have been talking about Dennis.

"So you're just giving us a ride?" Adam asked doubtfully.

"Yep." Apollo nodded.

"For free?"

"I thought we went over this." He said rubbing his temples with his finger tips. "But by all means feel free to continue using public transport. It's been going so swimmingly for you."

"He has a point." I said looking at Adam who still looked apprehensive. "Dennis is two days ahead of us at this point, in fact, depending on how he's traveled he might already be there, and we already know someone is sending monsters after us. Armed monsters. Who knows what else we might run into or how many buses might blow up?"

He hesitated and Apollo made an irritated noise.

"You know your girlfriend is a lot smarter than you." he said glaring at Adam. "This is a one-time deal. No strings attached, no debt to be paid or favors owed, to get you quickly and safely across the country. You're not going to find a better offer."

"You take us and we get to leave, just like that?"

"Just like that." Apollo said with a nod and Adam looked at me before continuing.

"Alright." He said and Apollo rolled his eyes.

" _Finally_." He said dramatically. "If you were any slower, molasses would be thanking you for being the new standard."

He slid out of the booth then offered his hand to help me to my feet which I accepted and Adam looked a little annoyed about, but I had a feeling Apollo could have offered to personally take over the mission and Adam would have still found a reason to be irritated with him.

We followed Apollo out of the diner and I noticed several of the women at the tables around us eyeing him with interest. He smiled and winked at several of them and I rolled my eyes. I knew he had a reputation for being a flirt but I hadn't realized it was this bad.

"Holy Hades." I said my eyes going wide as we stepped out of the diner and I saw a golden Ferrari humming by the curb. It was beautiful, but almost too bright to look at and I felt my fingers twitch slightly as I grinned. Tess would probably appreciate it better than me, but I didn't have to know about anything engines to know this car was fast.

"Nice right?" Apollo asked with a grin but it quickly faded as he caught my expression. "Don't you _dare_ think about stealing it."

"Who said she was going to try?" Adam asked deciding to be offended for me, but I grinned at him and he rolled his eyes. "No Thea."

"But it's so pretty."

"No." They said in unified irritation and Apollo continued on his own.

"Well as pretty as it is in this form, it's not very practical. It's a two seater and we've got three."

"You could let one of us drive." I suggested deciding to leave out the fact I'd never actually driven a vehicle without crashing before or the fact that I didn't have a license.

"Ignore her." Adam muttered and Apollo looked down at me annoyed.

"In your dreams thief. I drive. And besides, you're going to need something a lot faster than a super car."

"I like where this is going." I said as he took his keys out of his pocket and pointing them at the Ferrari. He pressed a button, there was a painfully bright flash of gold, and I saw that the car had transformed into a massive golden chariot. It radiated a warm sense of power that reminded me of summer and cloudless days.

I looked at Adam, who look impressed in spite of himself, and grinned.

"How cool is this? We get to ride the sun."

"Finally, someone who's appropriately excited." Apollo said in a long suffering voice and hoping into his chariot. "Usually you mortals are so boring. I mean who cares if you might burn up on reentry?"

"Wait, what?" Adam asked but I'd already dragged him into the chariot.

"You two ready?" Apollo asked smirking and while I nodded eagerly, Adam shrugged.

"Your enthusiasm is practically suffocating me Kall." Apollo said looking irritated, but suddenly, a horn blared and we all turned to see a mini school bus speeding into the dining parking lot.

"What the-" Apollo said looking stunned but Adam had already grabbed me and bailed from the chariot.

We hit the ground as the bus turned so quickly it's tires squealed and two of them lifted from the pavement.

"Move!" he shouted as we scrambled away from the chariot which the bus was on a collision course with.

Apollo managed to move his chariot at the last second and the bus shot into a light post. There was a loud 'POP!' as black smoke poured from the hood and the tail pipe.

"You've got to be kidding me." Adam said as we got to our feet and several monsters staggered off the bus looking a little shell shocked from the accident.

"Who the Hades is outfitting them?" I asked noticing that like the Minotaur, several of them were holding bent or battered weapons. Some were even dressed in armor, though all of it was either cracked or had pieces missing. It was like they'd gone to a godly junk shop and just bought everything they could get their hands on.

"You two need to get out of here." We looked up to see Apollo was now holding his bow. Like his chariot, it and he was glowing gold. "Take the chariot."

"But-" I started.

"Just go!" he shouted as the monsters starting to charge. "I'll deal with this! Just get out of here and for the love of Olympus do NOT crash my ride!"

He shot a Gorgon who shrieked and I looked at Adam.

"Get going!" Apollo shouted and we made a break for the chariot.

"Do you know how to drive this thing?" Adam asked hopping in a few seconds after as I grabbed the reins.

"Nope!" I said flicking them and suddenly, three bright horses appeared in front of the chariot.

"Oh gods." Adam said his eyes going wide. Their coats were made of a fiery gold and their eyes glowed like coals. They tossed their heads restlessly, obviously irritated that someone other than their master was in control. "Thea, I'm not sure we should-"

But before he could finish his sentence I shouted.

"Mush!"

Though I knew this signal was supposed to be for dogs, they seemed to get the picture. There was a loud whinny and the next thing I knew, the chariot had shot forward with Adam and I clinging on to it for dear life. Leaving the monsters, and Apollo, in a blurr far behind.


	9. Chapter 9

Apov

Riding in Apollo's chariot was, in a word, terrifying. We were moving so fast, I wasn't convinced distance was the only thing we were traveling across. In fact, I was pretty sure we were breaking time. Thea laughed as her hair flew out behind her, the wind tearing at it, causing her eyes to water and her cheeks to flush. I only caught snatches of things like cities and mountain ranges and while I felt sick, she was looking like she was having the time of her life.

"Does it go any faster?" she shouted as we were buffeted by an aggressive gust and she nearly toppled out the back.

"Are you insane?" I yelled grabbing her as we narrowly avoided a flock of geese.

"Why does every body ask me that!"

"Because you're crazy!" I shouted feeling like my face was being peeled off. Why in the name of my father would anyone ever want this thing to go faster?

She responded but her words were snatched away by the wind and she let out an exhilarated shout as we hit turbulence that nearly threw us both off.

"That was awesome!"

"You have a serious misunderstanding of that word!"

"There's the space needle!" she shouted after another couple of minutes and I jerked the chariot around to avoid it, only to see us on a collision course with a massive body of water.

"Too far!" Thea shouted. "We're going to hit the Sound!"

The horses seemed to agree because there was an angry whinny and suddenly, after a flash, they vanished and we started to plummet.

"Are they supposed to do that?" Thea asked as our decent picked up speed.

"I don't think so!"

Knowing Apollo would kill me if I got his chariot stuck under water, I summoned as much wind as possible and slammed it into the side of the chariot, only to find our path was now blocked by a clump of rocky hills.

I heard Thea swear and I tried to gain elevation but it was too late. We crashed into the earth and were thrown from the Chariot as effortlessly as if we weighed nothing more than tooth picks.

I groaned as I hit the ground hard and as dirt and rocks settled around me, I sat up, feeling as if my body had been beaten with a sledgehammer. It took a moment for the world to stop spinning but when it did, I saw a long skid of upturned soil where the chariot had plowed through the grass and embedded itself into the side of one of the hills.

"Oh he's going to kill us." I said quietly looking at the bent walls of the vehicle as well as the broken wheel.

I expected Thea to laugh and say something smart, but she didn't and it worried me. That wasn't like her at all.

"You ok?" I asked rubbing the point of contact the back of my head had made with a rock, where a headache was already starting to form.

Again no response.

"Thea?" I asked looking around and feeling a cold shock go through me. I didn't see her.

"Thea!" I shouted again and as I looked at the wreckage, I realized that we'd crashed much harder than I'd originally thought. Thea was much lighter than me and we'd been going very fast. She must have been thrown farther.

I scrambled to my feet, hoping to spot her from the nearest hill but just as I'd started climbing, a voice shouted.

"Hold it!"

I froze and turned to see stepping out of the hills, were many heavily armed and armored girls, their expressions fierce. Most of them looked to be in their mid to late teens and all of them had their weapons drawn, but the tallest of the bunch, who appeared to be their leader, smirked when she saw me. She was pretty with long black hair, strong features, and dark intelligent eyes that were glittering at me with interest.

I pulled out my sword ready for a fight but as even more girls showed up, knew it was no use. I was out numbered thirty to one.

"You're not Apollo." She said sounding a little bemused. "When we saw you crash we thought the God was injured. Who are you, and what are you doing crashing his Chariot into our territory?"

I didn't answer. I was pretty sure I knew who these girls were, but that didn't help me much. If anything, it made it worse. I was lost, had no idea where Thea was, and even if I might be able to make it out of this fight alive, I didn't much feel like taking on thirty of the amazon warriors. Powerful my father might be, but that was just suicidal.

"I see." The girl shrugging casually. "If you don't want to tell me that's fine, we can always kill you. It's too bad though, you are really cute. Ladies?"

A few of the arches pulled back their bow strings and I dropped my sword.

"Adam." I said eventually and the girl smiled.

"Was that so hard?" she asked sweetly, but her eyes shone with triumph. I could tell she was used to wielding authority as easily as her weapon. "Adam who?"

I didn't answer. As arrogant as it sounded, because of my father most people in his world knew who I was, and I did not want them to know they'd cornered a son of Zeus. I had a feeling after their dealings with my half brother Hercules, they weren't going to be too kind.

"Quiet type I see." She said grinning. "Well that's good, we don't like men who bore us with a lot of words. But how about this, I tell you my full name, and you tell me yours."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Nina, Nina Ramírez. Daughter of Hylla Ramírez-Arellano. Queen of the Amazons." She gave me a critical look. "And you're Adam…?"

She paused after drawing out the sentence, obviously wanting me to complete it, but I didn't answer and at this point she started to look a little annoyed.

"You do realize I could have them kill you at any time don't you?" She asked gesturing towards her warriors and I knew there was nothing I could do. I had to respond.

"Kall." I said and I saw her eyes go wide for a moment, and the girls around me started to whisper.

"Well this day just got a little more interesting." Nina said looking at me with a new appreciation, but her smile was sly. Much like Daisy's when she knew she had someone cornered. "It's been a while since the Amazons have dealt with a son of Zeus."

Tpov

When I woke up, it was too a splitting head ache and the sound of a horrible groan that only stopped when I realized I was making it.

"Welcome back sis." Said an amused voice and I winced as I opened my eyes to see a familiar face leaning over me, grinning. "I knew you'd find me. Is Hannah mad?"

"Dennis?" I asked in blank shock.

"Hey." He said with a laugh.

"Oh my gods!" I said sitting up and tackling him into a hug. He looked a bit beat up with a bruise on his temple and a cut on his cheek. No doubt he'd run into a couple of monsters on his journey, but for the most part he seemed ok.

"Yeah, ok, I'm fine." He said a bit awkwardly. "Where's Adam?"

I let him go and looked around realizing that I had no idea.

"We must have gotten separated when we hit the ground." I said wincing as my head throbbed and memories presented themselves to me.

"I'm not surprised." He said looking around. "That was a pretty nasty crash. Everyone in the city saw it. The mortals think a meteor hit the earth but I knew it was probably you." he grinned looking at me with interest. "Did you steal Apollo's chariot?"

"No." I said honestly still looking around for signs of Adam.

"Well I don't know how long you've been unconscious, but you were definitely that way before I managed to find you and that was like an hour ago. He must have ran into something in the hills because once I found the crash site, he wasn't there and it wasn't that hard to find you. He should have done it by now."

"Great, first dad goes missing, then you run off. Now we have to find Adam." I sighed and looked at him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?" I asked and he nodded.

"Yeah, look, I know what I did was stupid but I-" but he was cut short as I smacked him in the back of the head.

"Ow!" he protested. "Thea!"

"That's from the whole cabin. _What_ in Hades name were you thinking running off like this?" I shouted at him furiously and he winced.

"It was the only way to get Chiron to send you after me." He said. "I couldn't wait-"

"You could have been killed!"

"You're here." He pointed out.

"I'm older than you!"

"Not by much. And you ran away plenty of times when you were much younger than me! You're being a total hypocrite!"

"That's not the point!" I said angrily.

"Then what is?"

"I'm your big sister! I'm supposed to stop you from doing stupid things!" but I cut myself off and realized in horror who I sounded like.

"You sound like Austin." Dennis muttered.

"I do not." I said stubbornly, uncomfortably aware that he had said those very same words to me.

"Well." He said rubbing the back of his head and shooting me a resentful look. "Now what?"

"Now we find Adam." I said getting to my feet, grateful to see that my book bag had either been found by Dennis or landed not far from me.

"But what about-" Dennis started awkwardly but I cut him off.

"Dad?" I asked looking down to where Dennis was still sitting. I had a splitting head ache, not helped by my irritation with my brother and my nerves that were mounting every second that I did not see Adam. "Do you really want to go up whoever has managed capture an Olympian _without_ Adam?"

"I guess you've got a point." He said but I could tell he didn't like it.

"What do you know about the situation anyways?" I asked. "Everyone's under the impression that you figured out where Dad is from the message he sent you."

"Yeah." He said reaching into his book bag and pulling a scroll and handing it to me.

"What is this?" I asked looking at the many interconnected lines that seemed to curve and break at random.

"A map," he said and I frowned.

"A map?" I asked confused, there were no city or street names. In fact, there were no identifying features at all. Just a bunch of lines that looked as if someone had given a marker to an overly enthusiastic child. "A map of what? A subway?"

"That's what I thought at first, but then I got to thinking. He disappeared after visiting the forges right? Well, what if he never left?"

"You think he's still at Mt. Rainier?" I asked frowning.

"I don't think he's at it. I think he's in it."

I looked back at the map and suddenly it made sense.

"Caves." I said quietly and he nodded.

"I stole this from the Tess's cabin before I left." He said taking a book out of his backpack and as he flipped through the pages I saw detailed maps of mountains and cave systems. "Information on every one of Hephaestus's forges they know about. Look at this."

He stopped at a page with the corner folded down and I saw a system of caves and corridors connecting them that perfectly matched the map Dennis had been sent.

"Lava tubes." He said. "They run all over the forge, and this book says where everything is. I'll be you anything he's here." He said tapping the page on one of channels that lead to one of the deepest caves and was labeled. 'Containment.' "I read about it. It's where he keeps the most dangerous stuff. Stuff that might try to break out and wreak havoc in the mortal world. The entrance is heavily enchanted by the Mist so mortals can't find it, but I'm pretty sure I know where it is."

"Why didn't you tell Chiron this?" I asked looking at him suspiciously. Dennis wasn't an idiot. He knew that if he'd given this information to Olympus they'd have been able to find our father much faster than we could, and he must have had a reason for withholding it.

"Because he'd have to tell the gods."

"So?"

"So who do you think has our father?" he asked raising an eyebrow and I could see his line of thought.

"You think they'd move him." I said and he nodded.

"If they knew the gods were on the trail it would go cold. This is a job for demigods. People who can get in and out without being noticed."

"A job for thieves." I said grinning and he smiled back, and for a moment, I was tempted to hijack the nearest car I could find and speed to Mt. Rainier like a bat out of Hades. But it faded when I thought of Adam's expression and what he would say if I suggested we steal a car.

"You still want to look for Adam first." Dennis said quietly and I felt torn.

"He might need our help."

"Our Dad needs our help." He said sounding angry. "Doesn't that matter to you?"

"Of course." I said feeling hurt "How could you say something like that? Have you forgotten who taught you everything you know? No one takes being a part of our cabin as seriously as I do."

"Not since you got a boyfriend." He said muttered looking away from me and I glared at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Why do you think Dad sent me the message and not you?" he asked bitterly. "Everyone in our cabin thought if he was going to talk to anyone it would be you, but I think I know why." He said glaring back up at me. "It's because of Adam. If he'd seen it he would have shown Chiron, and he would have seen it if our father had sent it to you. I don't get it Thea, I never understood why you liked him. He's so different from you, from all of us."

"You sound like you want me to choose between Adam and our family."

"It shouldn't be a choice!" he said angrily. "If you cared about our Dad at all we wouldn't even be talking about this. We'd be on our way to Mt. Rainier right now!"

"You're done talking." I said stiffly starting to walk away from him.

"You can't walk away from this Thea." He said heatedly. "Sooner or later you're going to have to face the truth."

"The truth?" I asked turning back to him furiously.

"Yeah. That you're abandoning your family for your boyfriend."

"You want to hear the truth Dennis?" I asked so coldly he stepped back. I didn't think he'd ever seen me _really_ angry before.

"I-"

"The truth is you ran away from camp. You could have waited until Adam and I got back. You could have waited until we could make a plan, but instead you ran off half cocked and we've had to waste time that could have been spent figuring out how to rescue our father, chasing after you across the country! I could have let Adam go on his own and you're right, he would have brought you back to camp. He doesn't owe our father anything, but he was willing to stay and risk his life to help find him for me and I'm here because you're my brother and if there was a chance to find Dad I'm going to take it."

"But-"

"And do you know what _you_ put our family through? They're all worried sick. No matter how much you don't like hearing it the truth is you're fourteen. You're lucky you're not dead, and you put both Adam's and my life in danger so we could come after you. That's the truth Dennis. And I don't really care if you like it or not. I'm your sister, I don't have to be your friend."

He looked at his feet.

"I just thought-"

"No." I said coldly. "You didn't think. You want to lecture me about forgetting what our father's about but what did I tell you when you first got to camp? Being our father's son isn't about getting into trouble. It means using your head. Thinking about he smartest way around a problem, not jumping into fights you can't win. And I think he wanted you on this mission so you can finally learn that. He threw you into the deep end and if you want to stay alive, you're going to listen to me. Got it?"

He glanced up at me, then looked back at the ground then nodded.

"Good. I didn't leave you to fend for yourself, and I'm not doing it to Adam either. Besides, he's the most powerful demigod at camp, it would just be stupid to try and do this without him. We don't even know what we're up against."

"But we don't even know where he is." He said quietly.

"How far are we from the crash sight?"

"About a mile." He said and I blinked.

"A mile?" I asked in shock. No wonder I'd been knocked out…

"Yeah, the chariot's a couple hills that way." He said gesturing behind him.

"We should go back there. Maybe there's something there that can tell us what happened to him."

"And what if there's not?" Dennis asked quietly. "Then what are you going to do?"

I hesitated. What if Dennis was right and we couldn't find anything? Then I really would have to choose between looking for Adam or my father. What would happen to one if I burned up too much time looking for the other? What if I couldn't find either but just ended up wandering around the pacific northwest getting nothing done?

"He's the son of Zeus," I said shaking my head, trying to get rid of these troubling thoughts. "Whatever happened to him must have been significant enough to leave evidence. He's too powerful for it not to."

"And if it didn't?" he pressed.

"It will have." I said with more confidence than I felt. It had to...


	10. Chapter 10

Apov

I never thought I'd be in a jail cell. Bailing Thea out of one, yeah, I could totally see that happening at some point in my life, but never did I think it would be me locked behind bars. I guess it wasn't quite the same. Instead of iron, they were made of celestial bronze to keep demigods and monsters in, and I wasn't really a prisoner. Not yet anyways. This was just where Nina had stuck me while she and her council decided what to do with me. She'd offered to take me on a tour of their facility, provided I wore the uniform they put their men in, but I'd said no. Thea's sarcasm must have been rubbing off on me, because when she'd asked why, I told her that orange didn't do much for the color of my eyes. Perhaps it was exactly that comment that had landed me here, or maybe the fact that they didn't like me because I was the son of Zeus. They and my brothers didn't exactly have the best track record and not for the first time I found myself cursing Hercules's reputation. I was convinced my life would have been at least thirty five percent easier if he'd, as Thea put it, 'just taken a chill pill every once in a while'. Granted, Hera didn't help but still… He wasn't a fun person to be related to.

I reflected on this as I stared at the ceiling of my cell, which like the rest of it, had been painted white. I didn't know how long I'd been here. My watch had broken in the crash and there were no windows for me to gauge the time by the sky, but it felt like several hours and I had a feeling Nina rather enjoyed having the son of Zeus under her control. She didn't seem like the person who'd give that up easily and as my stomach started to growl, I guessed it was well passed five o'clock.

The metal bench I was laying on wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was a lot better than the concrete floor. Trying to ignore the fact that I hadn't eaten since my late breakfast with Thea, I watched sparks of electricity dance across the cell wondering where she was and if she was ok. I mean, I was sure she was. I almost felt bad for any monster that was foolish enough to try and cross her path but that had been a pretty bad crash. What if she'd been injured? Her speed would do her no good if she couldn't run.

These thoughts bothered me than I would have liked to allow them. The longer I thought about it, the more I was convinced that something had to have happened to her.

'You're being ridiculous.' I berated myself. 'You've seen Thea literally walk off buildings and she was fine.'

' _But what if she's not,_ ' said a quiet voice in the back of my mind and I felt a pang of fear to through me.

"She is." I said.

' _You don't know that,'_ the voice said softly, sounding cruelly amused. _'In fact, you don't know anything thats happened to her. She could have been found by monsters or the fall could have killed her._ '

"Thea doesn't fall." I said and it laughed.

' _You've seen her fall Adam. You see it almost every night.'_

"Shut up." I said angrily.

"Talking to yourself already?" said a voice and I sat up to see one of the Amazons looking at me through the bars. She looked to be about sixteen with shoulder length blonde hair and brown eyes that were looking at me with interest. "I must say I'd hoped you'd be a little more resilient. We didn't even torture you."

"What are you going to do with me then?" I asked.

I didn't know much about the Amazons, usually Thea would be the person I turned to when it came to this sort of information, but I had a hard time believing it was their custom to lock up every male demigod they stumbled across. But maybe once again, because of who my father was, I was a special case. Or maybe they just hated Hercules that much.

"You're about to find out. Put your hands through the bars in one gap. And don't try any shocks." She said tapping the bars with a smile. "You'll regret it.

I did as I was told and she slapped a pair of hand cuffs over my wrists that looked to be made of the same bronze as the bars. She smiled then unlocked the door.

"Let's go handsome." She said amused grabbing the chain and dragging me not too gently out of the detainment room.

She dragged me through the facility where I saw girls walking freely in a mix of modern clothes and traditional Greek armor, holding a variety of things like weapons, tablets, and shipping boxes.

"So." She said with interest as I passed a line of defeated looking boys all in the orange suit that I'd refused. "You got a girlfriend?"

"Yes." I said stiffly and she looked a little upset.

"That's too bad." She said. "The girls are going to be disappointed. They've all been challenging each other, threatening to duel for who gets you if Nina decides to keep you."

"I'm not something you can own." I said irritated and she laughed.

"Here you are."

I followed her through a ware house where more jumpsuit clad boys were sorting merchandise both mortal and mythological, over seen by girls with swords.

"How can you justify this to yourself?" I asked looking at her and she raised an eyebrow.

"Justify what?"

"Enslaving all these guys?"

"Enslaving?" she asked and then let out a shout of laughter. "Oh that's hilarious."

"What is?"

"You think they're here against their will? That's adorable."

"Then why are they?" I asked unable to imagine why anyone would subject themselves to this sort of humiliation by their own volition.

"Because we asked them to be." She said as if this explained everything and when I looked at her confused she continued. "They're our boyfriends."

"Boyfriends?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah." She said as if this made perfect sense and I felt an eyebrow raise. The words 'controlling' and 'psycho' came to mind, and I felt a sudden rush of appreciation for my relationship with Thea.

She led me to an office portion of the complex with bare white walls and smelled like new carpet.

"In there." She said opening a heavy mahogany door and pushing me inside where several girls, who seemed to be on the older side of the Amazon age range, sat in full armor, at a long polished wooden table where Nina sat at the head.

"Thank you Lidia." Nina said smiling at the blonde who nodded, gave me one last look of interest, then stepped out of the room. "How are you Adam?"

"Shackled." I said flatly and while several of the girls looked at me annoyed, Nina laughed.

"And I was told you didn't have a sense of humor." She said with a grin and while several retorts came to me, I decided just to keep my mouth shut. "Won't you sit down?" she continued gesturing towards the opposite end of the table from her where an empty chair stood.

"What do you want with me?" I asked.

"I want you to sit down." She said testily. "After which we shall discuss your fate."

I could just imagine Thea's face if she'd had to deal with Nina. The temptation to roll her eyes might have been so much that they popped right out of their sockets, but I walked towards the end of the table and sat, and Nina smiled, but it wasn't kind.

"Excellent. Now Adam. Usually we have a fairly cordial relationship with the demigods of the Grecian and Roman camps, and while we're concerned with your story about the disappearance of Hermes, I'm afraid we cannot allow you to leave."

"Of course you can't." I said dully.

"As you might have guessed, it's on a count of who your father is."

"What a shock."

She paused, obviously wondering if the pun had been intentional, but then moved on.

"My court and I have been talking, and we've come to the decision that instead of letting you go. We will enter negotiations with your father, in an attempt to trade you."

"Trade me?" I asked raising an eyebrow. "With what?" Did they honestly think my father considered me to be that valuable of a bargaining chip? If they did, they were in for disappointment.

"Not what." She said as around me, I saw that around the table, the Amazon's eyes all glittered with the same sort of malice. "But who. I hope you see that it's noting personal, we have nothing against you, but your brother Hercules's betrayal of Queen Hippolyta has been an injustice that has plagued our society for centuries. He has not answered for his crimes, and we shall pass judgment on him once your father gives us to him in exchange for you."

I stared at them for a full thirty seconds.

"Yeah, he's not going to do that." I said eventually and the girls lining he table started to whisper, some looking at Nina who looked angry.

"Why shouldn't he? One son of Zeus for another, it's an even exchange."

"Are you insane? My dad can't be bothered to send even a birthday card to me each year, let alone care that you've captured me." I said trying to inject reason into my tone. "Do you really think he's going to exchange a demigod, for an actual god? I don't care what you think is fair, he's not going to trade me for his favorite son."

Nina hesitated for a moment, but a girl with braided red hair and cold blue eyes piped up.

"He's lying." She said glaring at me savagely as several of them nodded in agreement. "He just wants us to set him free."

"I'm not lying." I said tonelessly.

"We should at least call Olympus my lady." Another girl, this one brunette, said looking at Nina who considered her.

"I think you're right." Nina said frowning. "We'll hold the boy until we can talk to his father. Then, we'll decide what to do with him."

"You'll be wasting your time." I said shaking my head standing up.

"Where do you think you're going?" Nina asked raising an eyebrow. "I didn't tell you you could leave."

"I don't much feel like sitting here and listening to my father refuse your deal. I'd rather just go back back to my cell."

Tpov

It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened to Adam after we reached the crash sight.

"Who are they?" Dennis asked frowning as we laid in the grass, poking our heads over one of the hills behind the chariot and saw two armored teenage girls guarding it, obviously keeping the chariot safe until Apollo came to reclaim it.

"Amazons." I said looking at the warriors with interest. "Well that explained what happened to Adam."

"Like Wonder Woman?" he asked and I stared at him. "What?"

"Do they look like they're going to go running around in a one piece and a tiara?"

"She was an amazon." He said stubbornly.

"Yeah, I wouldn't go shouting that comparison." I said sagely. "Unless you have an ambition to be flattened like a pancake."

Both girls were nearly a foot taller than him with a strong build, and had a very 'daughter of Ares' look about them.

"Think we could take them?" he asked raising an eyebrow and I smacked the back of his head again.

"What was that for?" he asked indignantly.

"What did I just tell you?"

"Right. Be smart, avoid fights."

"Exactly."

"Well then what exactly do you expect to do?"

"Nothing." I said honestly.

"Nothing?" he asked indignantly. "Thea. They have your boyfriend. Aren't you going to go all crazy and challenge them or something?"

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Have you ever seen me instigate a fight?" I asked.

"Well… no." he said. "I guess normally people pick fights with you. But they have Adam."

"Ok you're still not getting this whole thinking thing." I said rolling my eyes and ducking back behind the hill, dragging Dennis with me. "First off, _they_ don't have Adam. They're guarding the chariot, and Adam is probably at their base in the city. Second, they are highly trained and extremely loyal warriors. Fighting them would just risk a chance at injury which would make Adam harder to find, and even if we win, they're not going to tell us where their sisters are. They'd rather die before betray them. And if we lose, we'll either a, be taken captive ourselves, or b, be very dead. Finally, most of the Amazons are demigods themselves, they're not going to hurt him. In fact I'm surprised they took him at all, but I guess they want to use him for something which means they want him alive. Tangling with them serves no purpose, got it?"

He nodded.

"So then what do we do?"

"We go back to the city. He can't be too far. How'd you get here?"

"Snuck on to a bus, then hoped out the emergency exit when I got close enough." He said.

I glanced at the Seattle skyline. The distinctive Space Needle pierced the sky and it was hard to tell, but it looked several miles away. Not something we could walk quickly.

"We're going to have to fly." I said flatly.

"Excuse me?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"There's no other way."

"What do you mean fly?" he asked but I'd already grabbed him.

"Hang on."

"What are you-ooohhh my gods!" He shouted as the ring Adam had given me glowed and the wind gathered around us, then we shot into the air. "Thea! What the _hell_?"

I laughed as below us, the Amazon's shrieked in surprise, then after reaching a decent altitude, we shot towards the city.

It took a little less then ten minutes to reach the city airborne. I'd quite enjoyed the flight the cold air whipping through my hair, but I was pretty sure Dennis was screaming and swearing the whole way there.

"Never again." He said his voice shaking as we touched down on the top of a coffee house and I laughed. "You're insane Thea. You actually _enjoyed_ that?"

"It takes some getting used to." I admitted walking towards the rickety iron ladder that lead down to the alley next to the building.

"How often do you do that?" he asked.

"Depends on how high up I am and if I've annoyed Adam." I said remembering our last conversation on the roof of our school.

Neither Dennis nor I bothered climbing the whole way down to ground. We dropped from a height that wouldn't break our ankles and then walked out onto the city street and I looked around the city with a smile. Though very different from DC, I couldn't help but think it was beautiful. It was a bright, slightly cold, breezy day and fall decorations lined the shops.

"It's a lot colder here." Dennis said pulling his jacket around him.

"Hey, you're the one who ran off. No one's forcing you to be here."

"That doesn't mean it's not cold."

"Suck it up Dennis, we're on a mission." I said as we waiting for a couple of hipster girls to pass us before we crossed the street.

"So where are we going anyways?" Dennis asked looking around. "Where does a tribe of amazon warriors… hang out?"

"I dunno. Go into the Starbucks and ask."

"Very funny." He said scowling. I was about to suggest we look for a city map, when I spotted a group of wild looking boys in their early twenties and late teens, that were attracting stares from passers by and I felt my mouth fall open.

"Blake?" I asked in shock and one of the boys turned.

"Thea?" he said looking just as surprised and then laughed. "Guys. This is the girl I was talking about the other day. The klepto with the school bus."

"Tess's friend?" one of them asked.

"Yeah." He said laughing. "You guys go on a head. I'll catch up later."

"Alright." One of them said and they continued down the side walk while Blake jogged across the road without bothering to look to see if anyone was coming, earning him several rude hand gestures from the drivers who'd almost hit him.

"How do I keep running into you? I thought you were at camp with Tess?" he asked amused then glanced at Dennis. "Who's this?"

"This is my little brother, Dennis. Dennis, this is my friend Blake, Tess's boyfriend." I said looking down at Dennis whose eyebrows had shot up at Blake's appearance. He'd gotten a few more piercings since I'd last seen him, and his hair was shorter now and one solid color. Lemon yellow.

"I didn't know you had a brother." He said looking down at Dennis with a grin. "But I can see the family resemblance." He looked back at me and seemed to take in my injuries. "What happened to you guys? What are you even doing in Seattle?"

"Just sight seeing." I said shrugging and he rolled his eyes.

"You are so full of crap." He said impatiently. "You look like you tried to take a bath in a food processor."

"Why are you here?" I asked as Dennis continued to look between us as we spoke.

"That was my band." He said gesturing back towards the group that had just left. "We're on tour. There's a pretty big show going on tonight, well big for us anyways, in this old abandoned warehouse. Tons of bands are going to be there. You should come. The tickets are sold out but if I say you're part of the crew I could get you in."

"That's nice of you to offer us a chance to carry your speakers." I said rolling my eyes and he laughed. "But I don't think we can make it. We've got stuff we've got to do."

"That's too bad." He said sounding disappointed. "Do you at least have a place to crash for the night?"

"No actually."

"Well if you change your mind." He said reaching into his wallet and pulling out a receipt from the coffee shop we'd just climbed off of, then scribbling an address with a pen from one of his many jacket pockets. "Here's the address of the show. You can crash with us after words. Our drummer has a cousin here that's letting us stay at his apartment while he's out of town."

"Cool thanks." I said grinning.

"No problem, I hope you come but I gotta go. We're doing the final set list and equipment check soon. I'll see you around."

"Yeah, see you." I said amused as I saw him pull a lighter out of his pocket and unconsciously letting it spark in and out of life as he walked. Some people never changed...

"Please tell me you never dated that guy." Dennis said warily breaking me from my thoughts and I looked down at him.

"Why?" I asked laughing. "Blake's awesome."

"His head looks like a tennis ball. Is he really Tess's boyfriend?"

"Yeah." I said amused. "And no, Blake and I never dated. Just caused a lot of trouble together."

Figuring we should find out more about the city before we started to make a plan, I suggested to Dennis we find a visitor's center which he agreed and we walked in silence for a while, and I wondered where Adam was, and if he was ok.

I wasn't too worried. There weren't many things Adam could handle and the Amazons, even though they worshipped gods of war, weren't totally unreasonable. I did believe what I'd told Dennis, I didn't think they'd hurt him and even if he tried, I knew he'd be alright. Odds are he'd only agreed to go with them to avoid a fight.

"Thea?" Dennis asked after about ten minutes. He seemed to be struggling with something.

"Yeah?"

"Look, about what I said earlier…"

"We don't have to talk about it." I said shaking my head.

"It's just-"

"Dennis."

"Look I'm sorry alright?" he said glancing up at me. "It's just, I guess part of me is mad at Adam because we used to do a lot together before you two started dating, and then you were either so busy prepping for your new school or spending time with him I didn't get to see you as much. I guess I just felt he was trying to change you."

He sighed.

"I guess I missed all the time we spent together, you teaching me things. When you guys started dating, it was like you just didn't have time for me."

I looked at him a little guiltily, while I knew I had tons of siblings all over the world and saw most of them at camp, growing up I'd always been an only child so I'd never really known what it was like to have a little brother. Even when I got to camp and I knew how all my siblings were related to me, there were so many of us it that it was hard to have a usual brother or sister relationship like Adam and Daisy. Often it just felt like we were a bunch of cousins living together. Most of us tended to have certain siblings we were closer with, like Austin and I, or Kevin and Jessica and while I loved all my younger brothers and sisters, and looked out for all of them, I could honestly say I'd never felt like so much like a big sister until Dennis had come along.

"I'm sorry I made you feel that way." I said quietly and he shrugged.

"I guess it doesn't matter. It's not like it was personal. You were too busy for everyone, not just me."

"I'm never too busy for my protégé." I said and he smiled. "And if you wanted me to teach you more, you should have just told me."

"I didn't want to bother you." he said sounding embarrassed.

"Dennis, you're my brother. You can ask me things. In fact, I'll teach you something Austin taught me the first time we snuck out of camp and into the city together right now."

"Really?" he asked excitedly.

"Yeah." I said.

"Ok," he said grinning. "What is it?"

"Close your eyes, and stand very still." I said and he did as he was told.

I walked over to the nearest bike rack outside a toy store and opened one of the cord bike locks mentally, then walked back to Dennis.

I quickly grabbed his hands, and pulled them behind him.

"What the-" he started his eyes opening but I'd already wound the cord around his wrists and closed the lock around a street light.

"Get out of that." I said and he looked at me his eyes wide. "And when you do, meet me at the visitors' center."

"Are you kidding me?" he shouted after me as I walked away. "Thea!"

I waved over my shoulder at him and grinned, then turned the corner wondering how long it would take him.

…..

A half an hour later, I was sitting at a small table watching people come and go from the modern looking building, drinking hot chocolate dispensed from a vending machine in a Styrofoam cup.

"You are just the worst." Dennis said flopping into the seat opposite next to mine.

"You look cold." I said amused and offering him the steaming cup. "Want some?"

He glared at me but took the drink.

"Do you know how hard it is to open a lock you can't see?" he asked grumpily.

"But you learned something didn't you?"

"There are other ways you could have taught me that." He said scowling.

"I find panic is a good educational tool."

"Austin never really did that to you did he?"

"No." I admitted. "But next time you question my loyalty to our family, I won't be as kind."

"I guess I deserved that." He said with a sigh.

"Yeah. You did. But there are things I can teach you. Something that will help us find Adam I think."

He raised and eyebrow and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not going to do anything to you." I said in exasperation and I took out a pamphlet about the industrial section of the city I'd found in the many information kiosks around the center.

"Why do I care about shipping warehouses?" he asked as I spread it over the table.

"You shouldn't." I said tapping one of the pictures. "But you should care about this one."

"Amazon, what like the website?"

I nodded.

"Oh c'mon Thea." He said frowning. "Don't you think that's a bit obvious?"

"Not everything needs to be subtle." I said shrugging. "They're a proud, powerful society. I'm not surprised they'd want their name out there. It's pretty clever if you think about it. They're hiding in plain sight."

"So you really think he's there?"

Another nod.

"So what's your plan? We're just going to walk in there and ask for your boyfriend is?"

"Nope." I said. "This is where you're training starts."

"What do you mean?"

"We're going to break in." I said. "And you're going to plan how."


	11. Chapter 11

Thank you for the reviews! They really mean a lot. Honestly I was a little stuck and losing confidence in the story but reading them really helps.

~secrethalfblood

Apov

I know it's an offensive stereotype, and if I ever said this out loud I would probably get endless crap for it, but let's look at the evidence here. We had my ex, who'd manipulated my emotions for years to convince me I was in love with her. My current girlfriend, a compulsive thief whose idea of a good time was shooting across the country in a barely controlled crash at the speed of the sun. And then we had the Amazons, who wanted to use me like some sort of bargaining chip against the gods. I'm just going to say it. Girls are crazy. There's nothing they wouldn't do.

I reflected on this in my cell, wondering what time it was and if my father had already refused Nina what she wanted. I'd gone back to laying on the bench and I'd just started to think that even if they couldn't trade me, they might still not let me go, when I heard the door open.

"You know, I always thought if one of us got locked up, you'd be bailing me out."

I smiled opening my eyes and turning my head towards the cell door, not entirely surprised, but happy to see Thea grinning at me between the bars.

"Right?" I asked sitting up and then realizing she wasn't alone. Dennis was with her.

"What the… When did-" I started but she shook her head.

"We can trade stories later. Why'd they lock you up?"

"They want to trade me for my brother."

"They're still pissed at Hercules then?"

"That's putting it mildly."

"If that's the case, I'm surprised you're not in a jumpsuit." She said amused.

"I refused."

"That was smart, orange isn't really your color."

"Our camp shirts are orange." I said frowning.

"Well now you've put me in an awkward position."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked indignantly and she grinned.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

"Would you two stop flirting so we can get out of here?" Dennis asked looking irritated but when Thea raised an eyebrow at him, he looked guilty and I felt like I was missing something.

"What's going on with you guys?" I asked.

"Nothing." Thea said lightly. "But he's got a point. We need to get moving. The guards could come back at any time."

She bent down to inspect the lock on the cell door, then looked at her brother.

"Did you bring your kit?" she asked and he nodded.

"Yeah of course, but can't you just, you know." he tapped his temple and I knew he'd expected her to charm the lock open with her mind.

"Not with this lock." She said glancing at the metal. "The bronze, it interferes with divine abilities doesn't it?" she asked looking at me. "Otherwise I'm pretty sure you'd already be out."

"Yeah." I said flatly.

"I'll have to do it manually."

"Alright." He said reaching into his book bag and pulling out a black case I'd remember seeing Thea carry around camp in the past, then handed it to her.

She took it and knelt next to the lock, but when she inserted the pick she hesitated.

"You do it." she said looking at her brother.

"What?" he asked in shock.

"You said you wanted me to keep teaching you. Well, here's your chance."

"Yeah but-" he started but Thea cut him off.

"Hurry up Dennis you're wasting time."

"Alright." He said then took Thea's place kneeling next to the door.

She watched him critically for a moment as he worked, but after several attempts, he let out a frustrated noise.

"I can't get it." he said looking disheartened.

"You can." She said encouragingly. "You're just not used to opening a lock without your abilities helping you. Think back to when you first started to learn."

"Thea, can't you just do it?" he asked. "We've got to go."

"Then open the lock." She said shrugging.

"But what if I can't?"

"Well then Adam's stuck." She said sitting and leaning against the wall of the room outside the cell. "Because I'm not opening it for you."

I raised an eyebrow at her as Dennis turned nervously back to the lock, but she shook her head and gave me a reassuring expression that made me realize she wasn't serious. She just wanted him to think she was.

"What's one of the first things I taught you?" she asked. "About what sometimes happens to pins you've already unstuck and moved on from?"

"Sometimes they slide back into place?" he asked glancing at her and she nodded.

"Then what do you do?"

"You go back to them after you've finished the rest."

She nodded and after a moment of fidgeting, there was a click, and he swung the door open.

"Good work." She said ruffling his hair and he pushed her hand away annoyed, but I could have sworn I saw him grin.

"So." She said looking at me. "Was it lonely on the inside?"

"Very funny." I said sourly and she laughed. As she did, I looked down at her brother. "Thanks Dennis."

"Yeah." He said a little awkwardly. "No problem."

Wondering why he was refusing to look at me, I glanced at Thea.

"How'd you guys even get in here anyways?"

"Vent system." She said. "But there's no way you're going to fit in there, your shoulders are too wide. We're going to have to do things your way to get out." She said reaching into her pocket and pulling out my pocket knife. "Found this in their armory. Thought you might want to get it back."

I grinned catching it as she tossed it to me.

"What does Adam's way mean?" Dennis asked. "What? Are we not sneaking back out?"

"Adam doesn't believe in sneaking." She said grinning. "For the most part, he doesn't go around things. He goes through them."

"So we're fighting?" Dennis said as Thea took off her necklace.

"Yeah."

"I thought you said we avoid fights." He said looking at his sister.

"Usually we do." She said. "But when you're dating the son of Zeus, it tends to give you a bit of an advantage."

Dennis glanced at me then back at his sister.

"So we're just going to walk out of here?"

"That's the plan." She said holding open the door for us. "Ready boys?"

Dennis took his dagger from his belt looking nervous and together we stepped back out of the detention room. We hadn't walked three steps before two girls dressed in light armor turned into the corridor, one holding a spear, the other with a sword at her hip and a tray of food that crashed to the floor when she spotted us. Both of their eyes went wide.

"Hello ladies." Thea said smiling sweetly at them before she glanced at me. "I'm guessing you want to take this?"

"You know, I really do." I said feeling my sword transform in my hand and letting shocks run down it. "I think I'm going to enjoy this."

Tpov

Following Adam through the complex was a bit like walking through a jungle, after a steamroller had already gone through it. You could see the obstacles a head, but it didn't really matter once they were already flattened.

I could tell Adam was angrier at the Amazons than he'd let on by the way he fought because even though they were demigods, he wasn't being particularly careful. Usually, when he was fighting fellow halfbloods, he tried not to get too carried away in case he took things too far. It was a very different style of fighting from when he went after monsters, but right now, it seemed as if the line had blurred.

"You know I never thought I'd say this." Dennis said his voice low as a wave of lightening knocked a number of charging girls off their feet and into the walls. "But your boyfriend is even scarier than you are."

"And you wanted to leave him behind." I said putting my arm around Dennis's shoulders as we easily walked passed four groaning Amazons and following Adam down the hall. Scorch marks dotted the carpet of the hallway and the walls, and weapons from disarmed warriors littered the floor.

After about ten more minutes of chaos, Adam stopped in front of the door to the main part of the warehouse and finally spoke.

"Ok." He said with a sigh. "I feel better."

"I think you're repressing some stuff dude." Dennis said looking back at the destruction behind us. "How's your relationship with your parents?"

"Complicated." Adam said frowning. "Why?"

"No reason." Dennis said but raising his eyebrows at me but luckily, Adam didn't seem to notice.

"You two ready?" he asked. "'Cuz this is the most direct way out and once we get in there there's going to be a lot of people. It's going to be chaotic."

"Who are you talking to?" I asked readying my sword and he smiled slightly. "Are we going for a big entrance or trying not to be seen?"

"Oh they're going to notice me." He said darkly.

"Stay close to me." I said looking down at Dennis. "And stay on the ground level."

"Why?" he asked but his question was answered as Adam pushed open the door, stepped into a massive room the size of a super store, and there was a sound of breaking glass.

People threw themselves down as lightning shattered through the high windows that lined the catwalk on the second level. Voices screamed as it struck a conveyer belt in the center of the room, which started to smoke.

"You are so dramatic." I said looking up at, Adam who was already in battle mode, as boys ran for cover and the Amazons scrambled to their feet.

They readied their weapons, looking around to see what had caused the freak lightning strike and I smiled. I climbed up a shelf of what looked like DVDs and books that were sorted for delivery, and made sure I was nice and visible.

"Evening ladies!" I shouted looking up at the girls on the cat walk. They'd managed to regroup slightly and were forming ranks. "Now that we've got your attention, I thought I'd at least offer you the chance to surrender! I would if I were you, Adam's more than a little irritated with you at the moment."

I grinned as thunder crashed above the warehouse, and saw many of them glance at Adam their eyes wide.

"So?" I asked as through the windows, the wind started to pick up, scattering some of the lighter items in the room. "Who wants to put their weapons down? And who wants to fight?"

There was a moment of hesitation where we all felt Adam's power building and while Dennis looked a little wary, I grinned. Not for the first time when I found myself in a fight, I was I happy he was on my side.

"What? No takers?" I asked sarcastically.

"We're not cowards!" A particularly brave girl shouted and several of the Amazons nodded or cheered in agreement, waving their weapons high in a fierce manner.

"Have it your way then." I said with a shrug.

I dropped down next to Adam and my brother and looked up at him.

"Proceed."

Adam was right. The battle was chaos. The Amazons were not happy their building had been damaged, or that their prisoner had been sprung. They came at us in waves, but their anger was nothing compared to Adam's. In the fighting, shelves fell like dominoes, bowled over in the wind, demigods were tossed like rag dolls, and I found it was difficult to stand up right let alone fight.

That didn't stop them though. While Adam was dealing with the main attack force, a few Amazons had broken off trying to attack from an angle, and Dennis and I were focusing on protecting his blind spots.

"How does this not terrify you?" Dennis shouted over the wind as the girl he'd been fighting, was thrown off her feet into a wall from a powerful gust, and more lightning struck around Adam. "You're _dating_ that guy!"

"He's not mad at me!"

"Still!"

I was going to point out that Adam was actually one of the more level headed people I knew, when suddenly, the lights cut out and everything stopped.

"WHAT IS GOING ON IN MY WAREHOUSE?" A furious voice shouted and everyone stopped as the lights flickered back on and a girl thundered down the stairs looking, despite the fact she was clambering over fallen shelves and random merchandise, positively alarming.

"It's the son of Zeus my lady!" a young girl said jogging up to her. Her armor was slightly too big for her and it bounced as she ran. "He's escaped."

"Yes I can see that." She said darkly. "Who allowed him to escape?"

"That would be us." I said waving at the girl. She had long black hair and commanding eyes that glittered as they slid over Dennis and I.

"Who are you?" she asked glaring critically at me. I glared right back.

"I'm the girl whose boyfriend you locked up. Who are you?"

"Nina Ramírez. Queen of the Amazons."

"Well I'm Thea Reign. Queen of cabin 11. And frankly, I don't like you."

"Ah." She said her brow furrowing. "Yes I have heard of you. I didn't expect you to be so…"

"Awesome?" I suggested. Dennis hastily covered a laugh and she scowled.

"Insolent." She said flatly.

"I don't do well with authority."

We continued to glare at each other, and I saw the Amazons were looking between us anxiously.

"So?" I asked casually. "Is this the part where you hide behind your army, or you take me on one v one? Because I'm not leaving without Adam."

She hesitated, looking at my sword, but then shrugged.

"If you want him so much, take him."

I felt shock go through me.

"Wait. What?" Was this really going to be that easy?

"He's of no further value to us."

"I take it my father didn't make the deal?" Adam said coldly but she ignored him.

"I would ask you to consider something though." She said looking at the destruction of her warehouse.

"What is it?"

"After you find your father, consider coming back to us. I've heard your reputation, and I admire your confidence. We could use a girl like you around here."

I felt an eyebrow raise as I rested my sword on my shoulder, and she glanced at Adam.

"We'd even let you keep the boy." She said smiling at him and he looked offended as she turned back to me. "What do you think?"

I looked up at Adam who seemed to notice me because he glanced down at me and I smiled.

"No Thea." He said with a scowl.

"Aw c'mon." I said my grin growing.

"I said no." He said flatly.

"Sorry ladies." I said laughing as he almost dragged me out of the complex, Dennis trailing awkwardly out after us.

We stepped out of the building into a very cold night and Adam looked around.

"How long have I been here?"

"Well, since you crashed, about seven hours." Dennis said glancing at his watch which lit up after he pressed a button on it.

"Well we can't stay here." Adam said looking around. "We either need to get going to Rainier or find a place to stay for the night."

"I thought we were staying with your friend." Dennis said.

"What?" Adam asked.

"That's right I forgot to tell you. Guess who I ran into?"

"Who?"

"Blake."

The industrial park that the Amazon's warehouse was located wasn't very well lit, but I could tell in the dim light caused by lamps fixed intermittently on the walls, that Adam's expression was incredulous.

"What? How? What's he doing here?"

"He's here with his band. Apparently they're on tour."

"Yeah, that or he's stalking you." he said gruffly and I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, he offered to let us stay with him tonight and unless you want to sleep outside-"

"Does anyone hear that?" Dennis asked frowning.

"Hear what?" Adam and I asked in unison but he motioned for us to be quiet and I heard it too. Music.

"What the-" Adam said looking around but I quickly reached into my pocket and pulled the the receipt Blake had given me.

"Dennis, shine the light on your watch again."

He pressed the button and his face lit up green, and I grabbed his wrist, turning the clock face so the light fell on the receipt.

"That's not far from here." Dennis said in surprise.

"Well he did say it was in a warehouse."

"Are we actually going to go to a concert while Dad is missing?"

"If it means a place to stay tonight then I say yes." Adam said breaking into our conversation. In the light of the watch, I saw Dennis shoot him a resentful look and I decided to intervene.

"Dennis, it's the smart thing to do. Who knows what is waiting for us at Rainier and besides, do you really want to be trying to find a cave in the dark?"

"Cave?" Adam asked confused but we ignored him.

"I guess you're right." He said quietly, and while he didn't complain about it, he still looked mutinous.

"How much did I miss?" Adam asked taking my hand as we started making our way towards the music and as we walked, I filled Adam in on everything Dennis had figured out from our father's message.

"You came!" Blake said as we turned into a complex of worn down buildings with wire over the broken windows.

"Yeah." I said as he broke from the group loading equipment through a back door that lead to the stage, and tackled me into a hug. He let me go then looked at Adam. "Hey dude. Where you been?"

"Around." Adam said nodding at Blake who regarded him with amusement.

"You're as loquacious as ever I see." He said then looked between us. "Tess says you two are a thing now."

I nodded and he let out a laugh.

"Saw that coming. I take it you guys are crashing with us tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Come with me. Just pick up a guitar or something and they'll let you in."

We each grabbed a piece of equipment from the van his band was unloading and stepped into a dark corridor painted black on all sides. It was as cold in the building as it was outside, and when we stepped out on to the main stage, I saw the 'venue' was as broken down as it's exterior, and lit by flood lights.

"How much you want to bet this gets busted by the cops?" Adam muttered to me and I knew he was thinking the same thing. This concert probably wasn't legally supposed to be here.

"What's with all the masks?" I asked looking around noticing that even for a concert, people were dressed pretty weird. It seemed as if I only saw a third of the faces that were in the crowd. The rest were covered and I felt anxiety creep through me. Half of these people could be monsters and we'd have no way of knowing. Adam seemed to have come to the same conclusion because I saw his jaw set and he looked around his eyes narrowed.

"There's a lot of freaky costumes in here." Dennis said warily and Blake, who'd been a few steps behind us, laughed.

"Of course there are." He said looking down at Dennis. "What did you expect? It's Halloween."


	12. Chapter 12

Apov

Thea, who'd apparently been helping Blake set up his equipment since his band's garage days, spent the next hour helping around the stage leaving me to look after Dennis, who still didn't look happy we were here.

"How can she just be laughing up there pretending everything is ok?" he asked crossing his arms over his shoulder and glaring at Thea who Blake was introducing to his band. "Our father is missing and she just wants to mess around with guitars."

"What good is freaking out going to do? Besides, thanks to her we now have a place to stay tonight and a ride to Rainier." Thea, no doubt using the Hermes charm, had managed to talk Blake's band into dropping us off on their way to Portland, their last stop on their tour. "But that's not going to happen if she's rude to Blake's friends. Don't mistake her lack of reaction for lack of caring. She's being smart, not thoughtless."

"Easy for you to say. You know your dad's ok."

"You think I don't want your father to be found?"

"To be honest I don't know what to make of you." he said giving a man dressed like The Scream a dirty look as he nearly walked over him. Being several years younger than most people here, Dennis was a lot shorter than the rest of the crowd. "You always seem kind of closed off, then Thea comes around and you seem like more of a real person."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked noticing she and Blake were both doubled over laughing at something while the rest of the band gave them amused looks. They were an eclectic group, ranging from a guy with a shaved head and a t shirt, to others like Blake, with dark punk style clothes and eccentric hair.

"I dunno. You're just kind of a quiet dude unless you're around her. Makes it hard to get a read on you. Maybe that's why she likes you so much. She's so all over the place maybe she needs to be with someone who's a little reserved. I know that's why I like being around Hannah. Things are always so chaotic around our siblings and we're wired to get into trouble." He shrugged. "I dunno." He repeated. "It's kind of nice to be around someone who's stable."

I looked down at him not really sure how to respond. It was an interesting thought, but I'd sort of decided not to think too hard about my relationship with Thea when it came to this sort of thing for now. I'd basically come to the conclusion that she just wasn't meant to be completely understood no matter how much I wanted to, but Dennis was coming at it from a completely different perspective than I was. One that was probably much closer to Thea herself. At this moment, it was hard to believe he was only fourteen.

"Don't tell her I said this." He said looking embarrassed. "Especially, you know, what I said about Hannah."

"Why?"

"Because she's the kind of person who'd want to get involved, you know? Sisters can't help it but Hannah and I are just friends."

I grinned.

"What?" he asked warily.

"Nothing." I said shaking my head. I wasn't that great at reading people, but I did remember how stubborn I'd been when was insisting that Thea was just a friend.

"I guess I never really did thank you." he said not looking at me.

"For what?"

"For not forcing me to go back to camp. I guess that is the whole point of your mission right? To bring me back? You didn't have to let me stay."

"You broke me out of the Amazon's prison. We're even."

"Thea could have done that." He said shrugging.

"But she didn't. You did. You could have gone straight to Rainier."

"I wanted to." He said unapologetically. "But Thea put her foot down."

"She's usually right. But we're still even."

"Yeah maybe." He said and then hesitated before asking. "She wasn't mad at me. Was she?"

"Who?" I asked.

"Hannah." He said looking anxious. "I asked Thea, but she didn't answer."

"I don't think she was mad so much as worried. But she was pretty upset."

"I feel kind of bad for leaving without saying good bye." He said but the statement was at odds with his slight smile. Part of me wondered if he liked the fact she was worried about him.

"Yeah, she's not mad now but she will be when you get back."

"What?" he asked looking horrified. "Why?"

"Because that's what girls do." I said. "They worry about you, then get mad when you're ok."

"That doesn't make sense."

"I've found girls don't make a lot of sense." I said and he looked at me shrewdly.

"Is that why Thea hit me when I found her?"

"Yes." I said seriously. "If you're lucky you might break an arm or something before we get back."

"How is that lucky?" he asked frowning.

"Because then Hannah might not kill you."

"Bonding are we boys?" said a familiar voice and I saw that Thea had left the stage and pushed the crowd to find us.

"How much did you hear?" Dennis asked his eyes going wide and his cheeks burning.

"Relax Dennis," she said rolling her eyes. "I'm not going to embarrass you in front of your little girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend." He said heatedly.

"I remember you saying something like that." She said grinning at me.

"Well technically you weren't at the time." I pointed out.

"But you wanted me to be." She said smirking.

"Can you guys have this conversation when I'm not around?" Dennis said annoyed.

"Fine. I've actually got to go. Blake's sound guy just called and said he was suffering from a 'situational sickness'." she said putting quotes around the last two words and smirking.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means he went to the bar yesterday, and is still paying for it today. So I'm in charge of that while their band is up and they're playing first. I'll see you two later."

She kissed my cheek then drifted away again, stepping between a guy in a mask with goat horns and a girl dressed like a vampire, looking much more comfortable among this crowd than I, and Dennis apparently by his expression, ever would be.

"She just kind of rolls with everything, doesn't she?" he asked frowning after her sister.

"Yeah. If she were anymore laid back she'd hit bedrock."

To my very great surprise, he laughed.

"What?" I asked as he tried to compose himself.

"Nothing." He said still chuckling. "It's just, it's so true."

Just then there was a screech of feed back, and everyone looked at the stage where I saw Blake and his band were standing.

"Mic two Thea!" Blake shouted over the crowd.

"On it!" she said pressing a button on a sound board that had been pushed carelessly to the side of the room and the noise stopped.

"Sorry about that folks." Blake said into the microphone while adjusting his guitar strap and the rest of the band took their places. "How's every body doing tonight?"

The crowd shouted in response and he grinned.

"Alright. As some of you know we are Pyrotechnic." A couple of girls and a man behind us screamed. "This one's a new one. It's called Rosie the Riveter!"

The speakers blared as the drums and guitar started played a fast pace, but not as aggressive song, as I'd expected knowing Thea's taste in music.

"I guess he really does like Tess!" Dennis shouted about thirty seconds into the song.

"What makes you say that?" I asked. I hadn't been paying much attention. Honestly I was trying to block out the music as I looked around the venue for any signs of monsters that had snuck in with the crowd.

"Listen to the lyrics!"

I listened and while it was hard to hear over the guitar and the people screaming around me, but eventually I caught snippets of a story about a boy who liked 'Rosie' or I guess Tess, a girl who liked mechanics that he'd met through his "klepto of a friend".

When this part of the song came around, I glanced at Thea who was still working the sound board and mouthing along with the lyrics, apparently having heard them before.

The next song was a little bit more what I expected from Blake, which meant I couldn't relate to it at all, but the crowd seemed to love it. They were jumping around and someone had started a mosh pit in the center.

"Let's get to the back!" I said dragging Dennis out of the way as he was nearly flattened by a burley man that had been thrown out of the pit, then dove back in.

As we pushed our way through the crowd, something caught my attention. Standing by the door was a dark figure that seemed to be hidden in one of the shadows created by the spotty illumination of the flood lights. From what I could tell, the man was massive. He was wearing jeans and a black t shirt with burley arms that were crossed over his chest, and though I couldn't see his face very well in the shadows. I could see even in the dark he was wearing sunglasses.

A jolt of fear went through me, but I wasn't sure why until I realized that I'd seen him before.

"Stay here." I said putting a hand on Dennis's shoulder as the man straightened up and walked out a side door of the warehouse. From the faded paint above it, I could see it used to be an emergency exit, but it was clear that the alarm had stopped working a long time ago.

"Why? What are you doing?" Dennis asked as around me the images of the mortals seemed to flicker and grow darker.

I shook my head feeling uneasy as the masked figures elongated like shadows.

"Just… go wait with Thea."

"Are you ok?"

"Fine." I said uncertain if that were true or not. My heart rate increased as I looked around, convinced that something was watching me. "I just need to check something."

"Alright." He said sounding a little uncertain, but making his way back towards the front of the crowd where Thea and the sound board were located.

'They're not monsters.' I reminded myself wading through the sea of masks and fake blood. 'Just mortals who don't know any better.'

But even as I said this, I was sure that monsters were in their mix. An unaccounted fear flooded through me. I wished they'd stop playing this stupid music. It was putting me on edge. I gripped my weapon in my pocket tightly ready to summon the sword at a moments notice. Was Thea still by the board? I didn't want her anywhere near that man. I would have felt better if I could see her through the crowd.

I stepped through the door out into a dark alley between the warehouse the concert was taking place in, and its neighbor which was just as run down. There was very little moon light, but I caught movement in my peripheral vision and saw the figure stepping into the next building.

I ran after it determined to figure out who or what this thing was, and why it had infiltrated my dreams. I followed through the door in which the man had disappeared to find myself in what looked like an old store house with crates stacked thirty feet into the air. The door slammed shut behind me with a noise that echoed through out the massive room and I heard a soft, cruel laugh.

"Who's there?" I asked letting electricity spark from my finger tips in an attempt to get more light.

"You mean you don't know who I am?" the figure asked stepping out from a row of boxes. Despite the shocks, the room was getting darker and colder, and my heart shot into my throat as I realized he was holding a slight figure which he tossed carelessly on the floor. Thea landed motionless, her eyes closed, but when I tried to move after her, I found I was rooted to the spot. My entire body was paralyzed as the shadows encroached on us.

"Don't worry." The voice said amused. "You will soon."

"Let her go!"

"It's your fault she's here." He said his voice getting louder as my heart pounded faster. "You could have told her to stay at camp but you didn't. It's your fault."

The shadows got closer to her and I looked down in horror to see that my body was being over taken by them.

"But then again, you always knew she'd be in danger when she was around you. Did you really think you could have a normal relationship? No one involved with you could ever really be safe." He smirked. "Did you really think you had a future?"

I couldn't answer him. I couldn't even think. Thea still hadn't moved.

"Let me put you out of your misery." He said cruelly and suddenly, I was completely swallowed by the darkness. I tried to move, to shout, to do anything but I couldn't. I was petrified.

Someone swore and I felt something grab me.

"Get off!" I shouted in panic struggling to throw whatever it was off of me.

"Adam!" it shouted. "Take it easy man! It's me!"

My eyes flew open. I was freezing and I saw the store room was tilted at an angle. It took me several seconds to realize that this was because I was lying on the concrete floor. Blake was kneeling next to me and I could tell he'd been attempting to set me up.

"What happened?" I asked pushing myself of the floor and looking around wildly.

"You tell me dude." He said frowning. "I just found you lying here." His eyes went wide. "You didn't drink from that bottle people were passing around in the crowd did you?"

"What are you talking about? Where is he?"

"Where is who?"

"He had Thea."

"What are you talking about? Thea's never left the concert. She's the reason I was even looking for you in the first place."

"What do you mean?" I asked my heart rate finally slowing to something close to a normal pace, but it shot right back up with what he said next.

"Dude, she's totally freaking out. All of the sudden just started screaming like she was being chased by an ax murderer. She's not even speaking English. Dennis had to translate. He said she was asking for you."

"Where is she?" I said getting to my feet so quickly I staggered but I steadied myself.

"She's in the van. We thought we should get her out of there and somewhere with heat. She was shaking like crazy."

Not waiting to see if he was following, I ran out of the warehouse out into the night and followed the pair of headlights in distance that belonged to the band's van.

"She's in the back with her brother." The drummer of the band, Randy, the member with the shaved head, said when he spotted and I slid open the back seat to see Dennis looking at Thea anxiously as she trembled. Her head in her hands and her elbows resting on her knees but she looked up and I was surprised to see tears on her cheeks.

"Where have you been?" Dennis asked furiously as Thea threw her arms around me.

"H-how long have I been gone?" I asked.

"You disappeared over an hour ago. What happened to you?"

"I don't know." I said honestly pulling Thea closer. "Thea. What's wrong?"

But she shook her head and rested it on my shoulder. Dennis was looking between us.

"Have either of you been having nightmares?" he asked quietly and I nodded.

"Yeah, me. Why?"

"Thea told me she was having trouble sleeping. Have you been having weird thoughts? Thoughts that don't seem to belong to you or hearing random voices in your head?"

I thought back to when I'd been captured by the Amazons.

"Yeah actually. How did you know?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked his expression darkening.

"No. What are you talking about?" I asked and he looked out of the window.

"Someone's messing with your guy's minds." He said his voice low as if afraid of being over heard by that person. "Probably the same person who has our father."

….

Thea didn't tell me what had caused her to get so upset, but by the time we made it to Randy's cousin's flat, she'd calmed down considerably. Blake made her a cup of tea as his band members bicker over who got the bed, who got the blow up mattress they'd brought, and who slept on the floor.

He forfeited his right to argue with the rest by sitting at the dining room table with her as they looked through the photo album her cousin had given her, but shouted at their bass player who'd claimed the couch telling him that it was going to Thea.

I tried not to think too much of this, telling myself he was just being a good friend and he was dating Tess, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't annoy me how often he finished her sentences or the way they seemed to laugh more than speak when talking to each other. No one but them seemed to have any idea what they were talking about most of the time. They didn't seem to need words. It was like they could read each other's minds.

Even though Dennis had figured out why I was having them, that didn't make the nightmares any easier. Finally, after the third time I'd woken up I gave up on trying to go back to sleep and sat up. I glanced over to see Thea and Dennis had fallen asleep on the couch, Dennis's head on his sister's shoulder.

If I'd had any doubt that Thea had been rubbing off on me, it was pretty much expelled when I found myself on the roof of the apartment building staring at the Seattle skyline. It was freezing but I found I didn't want to go back inside. If I was inside, I was going to force myself to sleep, and I'd had enough of the nightmares.

"I wondered where you'd got to." Blake said and I looked over my shoulder to see him walking out onto the roof. "What's a matter man, can't sleep?"

"Haven't been sleeping well lately." I said looking at the city and he gave me a grin as he leaned on the low brick wall that protruded from the edge of the building above the ledge of the roof.

"Too much caffeine?"

"Nightmares." I said unsure why I was telling him this, but it came to me when he looked at me concerned. It was the same kind of expression Thea gave me all the time. The face of someone who knew what it was like to feel isolated, to have things bottled up inside and didn't want anyone else to feel that way. Perhaps, like Thea, he was one of those people you just knew you could tell things too. Maybe that's why they got along so well, they thought the same way.

Not for the first time I felt something close to jealousy but tried to push it away. Even if they were close, Thea had never indicated any sort of interest in dating Blake and in fact, he was dating her best friend. It was stupid to be jealous.

"Hard to imagine someone like you is scared of anything." He said gruffly.

"What does that mean?" I asked frowning.

"I've come to find that people that look like you generally come in two models. Guys who talk a lot saying they could kill you but won't do anything, or guys who won't say anything but would kill you without a word. I have a feeling you're the second type. I have a hard time believing there isn't much you couldn't handle. Well," he smirked. "Except maybe Thea."

"Why are you up here?" I asked but my question was answered as he pulled a carton of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket and a lighter.

"Want one?" he asked holding out the carton but I shook my head and he shrugged. "Yeah I figured, but I thought I'd ask."

We stood next to each other in silence for a moment before he broke it.

"So what is it with you guys?" he asked eventually. "What are you?"

"I don't understand what you're asking." I asked uncomfortably. Blake seemed unusually perceptive for a mortal.

"Come on dude." He said raising an eyebrow and for the first time since I'd met him, he looked a little annoyed. "You can drop the pretense. You think I didn't know Thea was different from the moment I met her? Or that there was something special about Tess?"

I glanced at him warily, but he didn't look at me.

"Look, you don't have to tell me, but you all look pretty beat up and it's pretty obvious you guys aren't here to see the sights. I didn't even know Thea had a brother and all the sudden she's traveling across the country with him. I had to keep her awake in our Spanish class together, and now all the sudden she's spouting fluent Greek. Tess gets the same kind of injuries all the time too. At first I was worried something was going on at home, but I've met her family. You couldn't find nicer people and I couldn't figure out where they were coming from until I remembered meeting you. And how you nearly cut my head off just for touching her. Like you thought I was going to try and murder her." He frowned. "Thea used to get the same way sometimes, really protective of her friends. Tess does it too and I can see it in Dennis. You're all paranoid. Like you're fighting this battle other people just aren't meant to understand."

He blew out more smoke.

"Like I said, you don't have to tell me but you should probably talk to Thea." He said with a shrug and putting out the cigarette on the wall. "She was pretty freaked out earlier."

"She seemed ok."

"Well yeah, she didn't want you to worry. But you only saw the end of it. She wasn't ok."

"She's tougher than you give her credit for." I said knowing he couldn't imagine the things a demigod had to see.

"Oh I'm well aware that Thea can handle anyone who was unlucky enough to cross her, but that's not the kind of thing we're talking about here, is it?" he said giving me a significant look.

"What do you mean?" I asked and he squinted at me, clearly wondering if I was joking.

"You're not really a people person are you?" he asked eventually.

"No."

"Well at least you're honest." He said sounding a little amused but his smile faded. "I'm sure you of all people are well aware that Thea doesn't like to deal with things. She'd rather laugh it off and pretend like nothing was wrong then admit something was bothering her."

"You think something's wrong?"

"I dunno man," he said shrugging. "She's always been hard to pin down. I don't think I've ever really known exactly what she was thinking."

"Join the club." I muttered flatly and he looked at me for a moment before turning back to the skyline.

"You don't like me very much, do you?" he asked with a knowing smile.

"I think you're a good friend to Thea." I said neutrally.

"Yeah, that's why you don't like me." He said with a short laugh but it didn't last long. "Look, I don't know how your guys' relationship works. Maybe you don't talk about this sort of stuff, but I've never seen Thea like that before and I've never seen her cry. And what I do know, is that when she was freaking out like that none of us could get her to calm down, and believe me I tried. There's only one person she was asking for, and it wasn't me or even her brother. It was you."

He lit another cigarette and it was a moment before his spoke.

"Look man, I get it if you're not my biggest fan but you don't have to worry about me. I do love Thea, but not like you do and I don't want to because how you feel about her, is how I feel about Tess." I was surprised how easy it was for him to admit this, but he continued. "She's my friend and I've known her longer than you have, so I can tell you I've never seen her around anyone like she is around you. Thea's the kind of person who sticks with the people she's tight with. She's not going anywhere Adam."

"What do you think of me?" I asked remembering what Dennis had said.

"Why do you care what I think?"

"Her brother said was hard to read. You're her oldest friend that should mean something shouldn't it?"

"Dude, when I met you almost decapitated me because you thought there was a possibility I might hurt her." He said amused. "Even if I didn't know that, I see the way you look at her. That's all I need to know."


	13. Chapter 13

Tpov

The morning after the concert wasn't fun. Everyone was treating me like a bomb that might go off at any time and while I couldn't blame them, considering even I didn't know what had set me off, that didn't make it a pleasant experience.

Adam had questioned me relentlessly about what had happened over breakfast until I was forced to give him bits and pieces of what I'd seen. Memories of my Mom in the hospital and being trapped in the chaos, but I changed the subject as quickly as possible. I didn't want to admit that most of what I'd seen had involved him.

It was stupid, I knew it was. Adam was the most powerful demigod at camp and the visions of him struggling to fight against hordes of monsters weren't even real. But they had felt real and I was glad he'd held my hand almost the entire ride to Mt. Rainier.

"You sure you guys don't need a ride back?" Blake asked glancing at me anxiously leaning his head out the sliding door of the van. "Cuz we don't need to be in Portland for another two days. I don't want you guys to get stranded."

"Yeah." I said and he looked at Adam.

"Keep an eye on her." He said and I felt a surge of irritation go through me.

"I can take care of myself." I said but they both ignored me as they seemed to share a significant look.

"I'd like to point out that, out of the three of us, I was the only one not to have an episode yesterday." Dennis said.

"Yeah. That means you're in charge of him." Blake said grinning and gesturing towards Adam. "And of Thea by default."

"You're an idiot."

"Love you too Reign." He said smirking and as he slid the van's door shut, I heard him shout. "Alright boys! Let's go!"

Randy turned the key in the ignition and music blasted from the speakers as they peeled out of the gravel parking lot

"Well." I said taking Adam's hand again and looking down at Dennis. "You said you think know where the entrance to the forge is. You take the lead."

"Really?" he asked looking a little excited to be temporarily in charge.

"Unless you want to follow me." I said shrugging. "But I figure you'd want to find Dad as quickly as possible."

"Let me just look at the trails." He said happily running over to the trail guide and Adam and I watched him.

"You'd almost think he was eager to go into what's essentially a death trap." Adam said frowning.

"I don't think he's connected the dots yet." I said.

"Yeah I don't think so either. He looks as happy as you do when you find a new lock."

"That's different, that's actually something to get excited about."

I'd slowly been rebuilding my collection after giving the locks I'd previously owned to Dennis over the summer. One of my favorite things to do on weekends was scour the antique shops and hardware stores of DC looking for new or unique locks, especially the days Adam went with me.

"Ok." Dennis said bounding back to us with a folded map in his hand that he must have picked up at the trail guide. "I've been doing research on Mt. Rainier while on the road and waiting for you to find me and there's been a bunch of weird stories and urban legends about here." He said gesturing towards a spot about half way up the mountain. "Mortals seeing weird creatures and flashing lights as well as hearing metallic banging and seeing smoke. If we take this trail." He said gestured towards a dotted line that snaked up the mountain. "It will get us close to it. Then we already have a map of the forge. All we have to do is find the containment chamber. I bet you anything that's where Dad is."

"Yeah, now we just have to try not to die in the process." Adam said sarcastically.

"I think that's implied." I said grinning and we followed Dennis who practically sprinted to the trail head.

The hike on the trail took a few hours and while it was now November and pretty chilly, it was a bright day and Dennis babbled about the plants he thought Hannah would like or the ones she'd taught him as we walked. I might have actually had fun if it wasn't for the sudden jolts of fear and anxiety that were going through me as I worried about my father and what we were going to run into in the cave system.

Adam seemed to be experiencing the same problem. Everyone and a while I felt him stiffen next to me and his grip on my hand tightened.

Dennis however, seemed completely content until when we finally stepped off the trail. After clambering through a scree field, over several huge boulders, and up a cliff, we hit a fissure in the spot Dennis had pointed out on the map of the mountain and his enthusiasm seemed to be replaced by anxiety.

"It's actually here." He said his eyes wide as he spotted the symbol above the fissure. A fiery hammer that I'd seen so many times after being friends with Tess. "I mean, I was sure it would be, but…"

His sentence faded and instinctively he looked back at Adam and I.

"What are you looking at us for?" I asked amused. "Blake put you in charge."

"Oh come on Thea we all know I'm not in charge." He said glancing at Adam, but Adam was looking at me.

"What do you want to do? Can you sense any traps?" he asked and I inspected the fissure. In it was a heavy hatch door, that reminded me of something you'd find on a submarine, which was made of what looked like blackened iron.

"No." I said frowning. "Which is weird. Tess said this place would be fortified."

"Uh… guys." Dennis said his voice shaking and we looked at him to see his eyes were wide again. He was staring at something behind Adam and I.

My eyes met Adam's, then we turned to see several bronze creatures stepping out from between the trees and boulders, their eyes glowing red, and their fangs bared.

I swore as both Adam and I started to back away slowly. We'd stumbled into a pack of automaton wolves so beautifully crafted, that I knew they could have been made by no one but the god himself.

"Get into the forge." Adam said pulling out his sword. "I'll hold them off."

"But-" Dennis started but I cut him off.

"Listen to him." I said quickly as shocks ran down the blade of his weapon.

The biggest of the wolves, and obviously the pack alpha, howled and as the others joined, it echoed of the mountain sounding strangely metallic.

Dennis and I threw our weight against the heavy metal, and the hatch slowly started to budge.

"Go!" I shouted to Dennis as Adam brought his sword down to the ground and lightening radiated from it. The wolves snarled and yelped, and I dropped from the ladder that led down in to the forge, grabbing Dennis as I plummeted just in time. Sparks shot down the metal ladder as we landed lightly on the floor. I looked down to see it was glossy and black, made of polished obsidian.

"That was close." Dennis said looking at the ladder apparently shaken.

It was much warmer in the forge and as I looked around I saw that it was glowing with a strange rusty orange light. Bronze pipes ran along the stone walls, feeding in and out of them, groaning and shuddering as they transported whatever they held all around the forge.

Adam's figure suddenly appeared above us followed by several metal K-9 heads. He forced them back with shocks but one remained, particularly determined not to let Adam go free even though it was smoking and sparking.

It snapped at Adam's arm as he tried to climb down the ladder.

"Alright you stupid dog." He said annoyed. "You asked for it."

He brought the hatch down on the head of the wolf which severed the bronze and the head plummeted into the forge, still snarling at Adam and snapping at his heels when he'd finally made it down the ladder and walked over to us.

"I'm starting to realize why I prefer cats." Adam said scowling. I laughed and Dennis looked between us incredulously.

"What?" I asked.

"Those things just tried to eat us!" He said indignantly. "Why you laughing?"

"Dennis, you're a demigod." I said flatly. "Get used to things trying to eat you. Where are we headed?"

He pulled the book he'd stolen from he Hephaestus cabin and flipped it to section on Rainier.

"The forge is made out of both naturally made caverns and tunnels Hephaestus made himself connecting them." He said following the lines of one of the lava tubes with his index finger. "I'm almost certain Dad is here." He said gesturing towards the deepest and largest cave at the very back of the forge. It's where the power of the volcano would be strongest, the best place to keep a god."

"Lead the way then." I said as a hot gust of air blew through the tunnel. It was dry, smelled like metal, and was accompanied by an increase in the shuddering of the pipes.

We each looked around uneasily as a low roar started, quiet at first, but then rose the sound of a rocket taking off. The walls trembled and shook as a golden light appeared at the end of the corridor as it raced towards us.

"GET DOWN!" Adam shouted tackling me to the floor and reaching out for Dennis in front of us. I felt wind whipping around us tearing at my hair and Dennis let out a cry of pain as the jet of flames shot over us.

The blast couldn't have been more than thirty seconds, but it felt like an eternity as unforgiving heat washed over us and what little moisture that had been left in the air evaporated. The flames died and the winds calmed. I pushed myself off the ground to see Dennis had already sat up and was groaning, clutching at his shoulder.

"What happened?" I asked but Adam was already going through the med kit in my bag.

"He was too far in front of us. I couldn't redirect wind fast enough to stop him from getting burned."

"What was that?" Dennis asked his voice tight, obviously fighting back tears as he groaned.

"It must have been one of the defense mechanisms of the forge." I said inspecting the damage. A good portion of his shirt had been singed away where I saw on his exposed shoulder, and trailing down his arm, what must have been at least second degree burns. Already the skin was starting to blister.

"Why didn't we sense it?" he asked through gritted teeth and grabbing the square of ambrosia Adam handed to him while I started to dress the wound with bandages.

"I don't know." I said feeling worried but Adam had an answer.

"Because it's not a trap." He said darkly and I looked up at him. "Hephaestus is impervious to fire. Why should it matter to him if flames are shooting around the place? It's possible that's just how the forge works. It's not like he expected anyone else to be in here so why would he bother redirecting it?"

"So it could happen again?" Dennis asked his eyes wide.

He nodded and Dennis looked at me.

"This isn't as fun as I thought it would be." He said quietly.

"What did you think was going to happen?" I asked finishing the bandages. "That we'd just laugh our way to our father?'

"No." he said. "I just, I didn't expect it to be so real." His voice lowered and he glanced at Adam who was looking down the corridor. Obviously on the watch for more fire. "He always made it seem so easy."

I didn't know what to say to this. I knew why Dennis had thought that, it was what the whole camp thought and if I was honest, for a while I had too. Adam locked everything he'd seen away when he was around other people. He didn't talk about it so they didn't see just how affected he was. But seen him after the nightmares and in the rare moments he couldn't take it anymore. Seeing as who is father was, people had a tendency to forget Adam was still human. He was still a teenager, and they'd been sending him on missions like this since he was not much older than Dennis.

"It's never easy." He said quietly and I realized he'd heard Dennis.

We both looked at him, but he continued to look down the corridor.

"You ready?" I asked and Dennis rotated his arm. He winced slightly, but I could tell the ambrosia had already started healing the injury.

"Yeah." He said and I helped him up.

We joined Adam who was farther down the hall. We started to walk and I felt a sense of unease creep through me. This wasn't like the maze, and while in some ways it had been more dangerous, it didn't feel like this place felt. Despite all the traps and monsters running around it, the maze had been made by a God. Yes it was powerful, but we were inside a creation of the very earth itself. I felt the weight of this pressing on me from all sides, like the air was heavier down here, and this feeling increased as we stepped off the glossy floors onto the rough stone of the first lava tube.

The strange orange light that had illuminated the entrance to the forge had dimmed here and the walls were devoid of pipes. It seemed Hephaestus had left this section of the forge to it's natural state.

Adam pulled out his flash light, and Dennis and I did the same.

"Wild." I said running my fingers against the bumpy walls to find that the surface of the stone was actually smooth. They were dark, the color of pencil lead, and reflected the beams of our flashlights dully in a way that was almost metallic.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?" I asked Adam.

"It's from the lava." He said. "It must have forced a reaction in the stone as it passed through."

"That's pretty cool." I said but neither he nor Dennis seemed to appreciate it as much.

The terrain was much rockier here and as we walked we had to climb over piles of boulders as well as jump ledges and avoid unexpected bumps and divots in the ground. To make things even more difficult darkness seemed to be swallowing up the little light we had, and as we walked, I felt anxiety I'd experienced on the trail coming back in waves.

"I don't like this place." Dennis said after he'd lead us down our first turn. "Everything is so… dead. There's no life any where."

"We're underground. What did you expect?" I asked him.

"I dunno." Dennis said shrugging. "He could at least have like, one house plant or something."

Adam stared at him.

"You do remember we're in a volcano, right? There's no sunlight here for anything to grow."

"That doesn't mean he can't decorate." Dennis said defensively.

"You know, he really doesn't strike me as that kind of person Dennis." I said amused and he sulked.

"I miss Hannah." He said kicking a rock. "She's always trying to reorganize and decorate my room at home. She'd know what to do with this place."

I looked at Adam, ready to laugh at whatever degree of incredulity his face would be showing, but I was surprised by his expression.

"Just be happy she isn't here." He said softly as he took my hand. "Trust me. That feels worse."


	14. Chapter 14

Ok sorry for the crazy uploads tonight. Last one for the night. Hope you like it.

~secrethalfblood

Apov

Navigating the caves and the tunnels of the forge was not like navigating the maze. For one thing, we hadn't run into a single monster and there weren't nearly as many traps. It wasn't designed to be complicated either, and we had a pretty detailed map. We didn't get lost, but that didn't mean that I was having fun. Most of our difficulties stemmed from the fact that it wasn't designed to keep people from getting in, but rather, to slow down whatever was inside it, to keep it from getting out. This meant that most of our problems came from the actual walking itself. While some parts of the forge had obviously been built with great care, most of it was unfinished. The tubes ranged from grand caverns to narrow passage ways that we had to crawl through on our hands and knees. Pieces of broken machinery and half wrecked automatons littered the floors, some whirring and flickering, trapped under rocks or in crevices. Thea almost lost an arm pushing Dennis out of the way from a metal tentacle that had risen out of a fissure and tried to grab him.

Occasionally we passed rooms with heavy bronze doors that clanged and rattled as whatever was in it, obviously tried to get out. We still had to avoid jets of fire every few minutes and while I'd hoped I might be able to get it down to an exact timing, they were sporadic. One second we were fine, the next, almost charcoal.

"We're going to die down here? Aren't we?" Dennis asked dully after the corridor had shuddered again, and I had to blast a massive chunk of rock that had broken from the ceiling and almost crushed Thea and Dennis with lightning.

"Of course not." Thea said looking at the fractured rocks that had fallen around her. "Think of it as a training exercise." She frowned. "Just with really high stakes."

As we continued to walk, we passed caves with slow rivers of lava flowing through them and I realized where the heat in the forge was coming from. The farther we made it in, the worse it got.

"How does he stand this?" Dennis wiping sweat off his forehead. While freezing above ground, we'd all taken off our jackets and Thea had pulled her hair back into a long pony tail. "I live in Arizona, and even I can't take much more of this."

I didn't answer this. I was too busy watching Thea who'd knelt on the ground and picked up a tennis ball chunk of stone and was staring up at the ceiling.

"What are you looking at?" I asked.

"Get ready to duck."

"What?" Dennis asked but she'd already drawn back her arm and thrown the rock as hard as she could at the ceiling.

There was a sudden screech and a flash of bronze as a small fierce creature dropped, swooping down on us.

"Duck!" Thea yelled and we hit the ground as she pulled her necklace off, swung her sword like a bat, and a 'clang' rang through out the cave. The noise bounced off the walls as the metal creature smacked into one, then dropped to the floor the light in it's eyes flickering then dying.

"Why would anyone bother making a robot bat?" Dennis asked as Thea picked up the dented automaton and looked at it with interest.

"I dunno." She said grinning. "Bats can be useful."

I smiled as I remembered her prank on Devin.

"In fact," she continued. "This one's being used right now."

"What do you mean?" I asked and her response was the turn the machine over in her hands, and unstrap something that was stuck to the underside of it.

"Camera." She said holding up the device. "Someone's been watching us."

I looked around uneasily.

"Do you know for how long?"

"My guess is since we've been in here." She said then pointed the lens are her face and grinned. "So," she addressed the camera. "Is anyone listening?"

Nothing happened.

"Thea," Dennis started, "I don't think-"

But suddenly a cold breeze tore through the corridor, expelling the heat of the forge as rapidly as a match blown out by an arctic wind.

Dennis shivered but Thea laughed.

"Was that supposed to scare me?" she jeered at the camera but I took it from her and smashed it against the wall of the cave.

"Will you stop antagonizing whoever wants to kill us? I asked her annoyed. "It's bad enough they know where we are." I looked at Dennis. "What's next?"

"We need to go through a weapons store room." He said looking through his book and showing a small pocket where sketches of swords were drawn. "Shouldn't be too bad. I don't see any warnings about anything dangerous."

"Which room?" Thea asked. There were three heavy doors set into the walls around us.

"That one." Dennis said pointing to the smallest of them that was in the center.

She crossed to it and pried it open, but frowned when she stuck her head inside.

"I thought you said this room stored weapons." She said looking over her shoulder at her brother quizzically.

"It's supposed to." He said frowning.

"Are you sure this is the right one?" she asked and he looked back at his book.

"Yeah," he said after a moment's hesitation. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." she said shaking her head and looking back into the room. "It's just, it's empty."

She stepped through the door and we followed her into the room to see that like the rest of the finished parts of the forge, it glowed with that strange orange light, but she was right. The racks around the room where armor and weapons should have been were bare.

"I guess we know where those monsters were getting their stuff now." She said vaguely. "They cleaned house."

The only thing in this room was a tall mirror with an ornate frame made of the same blackened iron as the entrance to the forge.

"What is this?" Dennis asked going back through the pages looking confused. "It doesn't say anything about…"

But his sentence faded as he glanced at his reflection. He looked a little dazed. Thea was regarding it warily, as if she wasn't sure how she felt about it, and as if my eyes were drawn towards it's surface, I gazed at my reflection.

I looked the same, but something about me was different. My eyes seemed to be getting darker, and I was surprised in the mirror, I saw I was smirking. The longer I stared, the less I was convinced the person staring back was me. He seemed to know it because he laughed and put his arm around Thea's reflection which seemed to be trying to get away from him. She tried to push him off but he just continued to laugh and didn't let go. My eyes were almost entirely black now and I could hear the laughter as lightening rose around me trapping Thea. I'd heard this laugh before. It was cruel and just as I was starting to panic, thinking I needed to find away to help her, there was a loud shattering noise and I blinked.

"What?" i asked feeling disoriented. Thea, her sword in her hand, had swung it into the glass of the mirror which was now falling piece by piece to the ground.

"What was that?" Dennis asked after he started, but she grabbed his shoulder and started dragging him away from the frame.

"Someone else has taken control of this part of the forge." She said looking around. "Both of you, don't look at your reflection."

"Why?" he asked softly.

"You're not going to like what you see." She said darkly. "Let's get out of here."

She continued to pull her brother to the opposite side of the room and I followed but not before a glint caught my eye.

I glanced at a shard of the mirror and felt a jolt go through me as a pair of blood red eyes glared back.

As we continued, it became increasingly obvious that Thea had been right. Someone had clearly taken advantage of the fact that Hephaestus rarely visited this forge. The farther we walked, the colder it seemed to get. Murals lined the walls, pictures of bloody monster battles and armies fleeing the gods in terror.

"You said you wanted decoration." Thea said tersely, looking down at her brother who was staring in disgust at what was obviously a demigod being tormented by two burley figures painted in black armor.

"I was thinking something more like an orchid." He said flatly.

"Something tells me those two don't care much about flowers." I said looking at the armored figures.

I trusted Thea's judgment when she said we shouldn't look at our reflections. She was extremely smart and knew more about the mythological world than Dennis and I combined, but the problem was, it seemed now that we couldn't look at them, our reflections were everywhere.

Shields and armor lined the halls, sparkling as the beams of our flashlights hit them, and even the doors had been polished so I could see myself in my peripheral vision as we passed. Knowing I couldn't, I felt drawn to look at them but I kept my eyes resolutely forward. Dennis kept getting distracted but Thea, who'd been walking with her eyes closed for most of the passed ten minutes, kept pushing him along. I knew why she was doing this. She was even more distractible than her brother, so she'd simply decided to remove any temptation to look anywhere.

Finally, we reached a door that was painted black.

"My guess is that's the one we have to go through." I said and Thea finally opened her eyes.

"Yeah." Dennis said going back to the guide book. He'd put his jacket back on and was shivering slightly. It had gone from cold to freezing and his breath was clouding in front of him.

"What's in there?" I asked.

"Probably not what the book says." Thea said darkly. She too was wearing her jacket now and was looking at the mural in front of us. In the dim light and the shadows casts by it, they seemed to move. I could see mortals running in terror from the shadowy figures that had dotted the hall, recurring in every painting. I could almost hear them screaming.

"This is the last chamber before we reach the corridor that leads to inner workings of the forge." Dennis said. "Once we pass through the heart of it, we should hit one last tunnel that will lead us to Dad."

"So whatever's in there is gonna put up a fight." She said with a sarcastic smile then looked at me. "Should be fun, don't you think?"

"Thea, I love you, but you do not know what that word is supposed to mean." I said scowling and she laughed.

"Well, there's no point in delaying the inevitable. Shall we boys?" she asked grabbing the door and we followed her through the door.

We stepped into a chamber that was small, but had high ceilings and a stone plateau that jutted out into dark water that glittered ominously in the light of our flash lights. It wasn't that deep, but as we stepped closer I realized that the water wasn't just dark because of the room. It was pitch black and I felt the hair raise on my arms as I remembered the last time I'd dealt with a mysterious shadowy substance.

"I don't like this place." Dennis said softly pulling closer to his sister who put an arm around his shoulder and looked at me.

"What do you think?"

"I've no idea what to think." I said frowning. "But we need to get through it don't we?" I asked looking at Dennis. "There's no other way?"

"Not to get to the heart of the forge." He said shaking his head. "This is the only way."

"Do you have any idea what this is?" I asked looking at Thea and while usually she had all the answers, she shook her head.

"I've never seen anything like this." She said frowning but she grinned when she looked at her brother. "Do a cannon ball."

"Shut up Thea." Dennis said rolling his eyes but he looked a little less anxious.

I crossed to the edge of the platform and knelt next to the water. It was freezing next to it and smelled like dirt.

"Adam, what are you doing?" Thea asked in concern. "Don't touch it."

"I'm not going to." I assured her, but something under the surface had caught my eye. A movement of some kind.

"Adam…" Thea said and I heard someone running.

I glanced at the water.

"Adam! Don't!"

But it was too late.

My reflection suddenly smiled evilly, his eyes turned black, then he reached out of the water, grabbed my shirt, and pulled me under.

I tried to shout but the only thing that happened was cold water flooded into my mouth and nose, choking me, bitter and cold. I tried desperately to pull whatever this thing was off me but it's grip was like iron. I couldn't breathe, my lungs were both freezing and burning from the icy water and the need for oxygen. My heart was pounding so fast I thought it was going to explode, and just as I was certain I was going to die the creature let go and I found not only I could breathe, but I was completely dry.

I took a deep breath and looked around completely confused, but I wasn't in the cave anymore. In fact, I wasn't sure where I was. Everything around me was dark and though for the moment I was safe, my heart was still pounding, my breathing rapid. I turned looking over my shoulder to find Dennis and Thea had vanished.

"Where am I?" I asked.

This wasn't the first time I'd been transported somewhere I didn't recognize on mission, but unlike the time I'd looked in Aphrodite's mirror, nothing about this place felt safe. I continued to search, feeling panic starting overtake me.

"Thea?" I asked a little desperately. "Dennis?"

"Adam!" a voice shouted and I turned to see Kyle, his bow broken and his quiver empty. He was clutching a deep cut in his side that was bleeding rapidly.

"What-" I said in confusion as he collapsed.

How had he gotten here? What had happened to him?

But as I started to run to him, his figure changed to my father, on his knees, chained in heavy shackles made of gold, shouting as my mother was being dragged away by monsters.

"Mom!" I said in horror but as I tried to run for her it was like my legs were made of lead, I couldn't move fast enough. I was literally running in slow motion watching as the creatures converged on her and she let out a terrified scream.

My shouts mixed with my father's and I could feel a bitingly cold wind stirring around me. Lightning arced around me, striking the monsters that vanished in a whirl of black smoke, but my mother was no where to be seen.

"Adam?" a shaking voice asked.

"No…" I whispered feeling my heart pound painfully, then freeze. It wasn't possible. She couldn't be here.

"What the hell is going on?"

I turned in horror to see Daisy her eyes wide as she stared at me in fear. "W-What are you?"

Her eyes were darting around looking at the lightning and at the sword at my hand.

"It's not what you think." I said quickly.

"You-you're some kind of freak!" she shouted backing away from me.

"No." I said desperately. "Just let me explain-"

"Get away from me!"

She started to run but her image flickered and finally, the darkness around me took form into a room I'd seen so many times now and never wanted to be in again. The cracked platform surrounded me and with one final wave of terror, I realized where this was heading.

Monsters surrounded me on all sides, but I ignored them determined to reach Thea before the lightning struck. But I didn't, I never did. She screamed as she fell and once again I wasn't fast enough.

'It's a dream.' I thought desperately as my lungs constricted and my heart raced faster than before. I'd never felt terror like this before. I couldn't breathe, my heart felt like it was about to explode. 'Just a dream.' I thought. 'She's not really gone. When you wake up she'll be ok.'

When I wake up…

"I need to wake up." I said realization dawning on me and the room around me started to shimmer. "I'm asleep…"

Thea's scream was dimmer now and she wasn't falling nearly as fast.

"Wake up." I muttered and the world around me was starting to dissolve. I felt cold again. "Wake up!"

I broke the surface of the icy water feeling it fall off me cold and streaming. Coughing, I took several deep breathes as I looked wildly around. How had I ended up in the middle of the room?

"Why did you jump after him?" another voice asked desperately and I turned to see Dennis, who was also soaked his hair plastered to his forehead, was holding his sister and I realized that Thea's eyes were closed and she wasn't moving.

"C'mon Thea!" his voice cracked. "You've got to wake up!"

She didn't response. She was unconscious.

"Adam!" He said looking at me desperately. "We have to do something. Her heart's beating like crazy. I can't fight this stuff much longer." He continued and I saw with horror that the water was creeping up around Thea like sinister vines, obviously trying to drag her under as Dennis struggled to keep her head above the surface. "If she's in here much longer she's going to have a heart attack or drown!"

Shuddering with cold, I fought through the water feeling as if I were struggling through sand that was getting deeper with each step.

By the time I reached them, the water had made it to Thea's shoulders and Dennis whole body was shaking.

"I can't pull her out!" he said looking at me panic in his eyes. "Adam. What do we do? Every time I try it just drags her down more."

I put her arm around my shoulders under the water, but when I tried to lift her, it was as if I hit some sort of magical barrier. The water beveled but the surface tension refused to break. It was as Dennis said. The harder I struggled, the more force it seemed to drag her down with. It didn't want to let her go.

Her eyes were still closed, but I could see her them darting behind their lids and her heart beat was erratic.

"Adam…" Dennis said warningly as the water crept up around her neck.

"Get out of the water." I said to him.

"But-"

"Just do it!" I shouted and he gave his sister one last look of terror before he splashed out of the water to the opposite side of the chamber.

I looked at Thea one final time. The water had reached her chin now and I knew it wasn't going to stop until she was completely submerged.

"What are you doing?" Dennis asked furiously as I took a final, deep breath. "Are you insane?"

I ignored him and dragged Thea under the surface with me. I could feel it trying to pull me down back into my memories of the maze where I'd be forced to watch her fall again but I forced it back. Thea was here now and I wasn't going to let her go. I pulled her closer and locked my arms protectively around her before letting electricity spark through the water around us.

Immediately, I felt something around us retract and the grip on Thea lessened.

I didn't try to make sense of it or wait to see if the water would release anymore. With strength I'd never exhibited before, I forced my way through the surface dragging Thea with me as around us, the shocks kept the water at bay.

With sheer desperation I made it to the opposite bank. Dennis helped pull her up the stone ledge and I collapsed next to her breathing hard.

"She's still not waking up." He said leaning over her sounding worried.

I found her hand next to me and laced my fingers with it and was surprised to find it that despite the freezing water, it was still warm. Suddenly, as if spurred by this contact, Thea sat up breathing heavy and looking around.

"What the-"she started but then spotted her brother and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Are you ok?" she asked worriedly.

"Am I ok?" he asked incredulously. "You're the one who almost drowned!"

"What?" she asked confused and then looked down at herself apparently startled to see her clothes and hair soaked. "But you-" she looked at Dennis. "You were…"

Her eyes fell on the water and realization seemed to dawn on her. I had a feeling I wasn't the only one who'd been forced to see a sibling.

"Are you ok?" I asked her and she looked at me warily.

"Yeah." She said looking away and shaking her head.

She released my hand and ran hers through her hair that was still dripping with the black water. It might have been my imagination, but the drops seemed reluctant to fall, as if, like the rest of the water, it was reluctant to let her go. Her eyes were wide and she still looked a little disoriented. As if she were trying to separate what had happened, and what she'd seen.

"What was that stuff?" Dennis asked looking at the water warily.

"I don't know," I said looking at Thea in concern. She was shaking slightly and while it was freezing in the cave, it didn't look like it was from the cold. As usual though, Thea seemed to have the answer.

"It's fear." She said quietly hugging her knees to her chest. "The water, it shows you your darkest fears."

"So that's why I saw-" he started but immediately cut himself off and went slightly red.

"What did you see?" I asked her and she glanced at me but quickly looked away and shook her head.

"At least we know who we're up against." She said getting to her feet.

"What makes you say that?" Dennis asked.

"Fear." She said and while she offered a hand to help me to my feet, I noticed she still wouldn't look at me. "That's who's been messing with our heads, why it didn't effect you." she said looking at Dennis. "There's only two of them."

"Who?" Dennis said but my eyes went wide as realization flooded through me. Suddenly, the voices, the visions, even the nightmares, it all made sense.

"Deimos and Phobos."

Dennis simply looked his confusion.

"Brothers terror and panic." Thea said shaking her head again and closing her eyes as if she was trying to force her brain to think clearly. "The Gods of fear."


	15. Chapter 15

Tpov

Adam wanted to take a break to recover after we'd left the chamber and entered the cave that would take us directly to the heart of the forge, but I refused. I wanted to put as much distance between us and that water as possible. I walked a head of the other two and I could feel Adam's eyes on me. I tried to ignore it, and tried not to feel humiliated that I was the only one who hadn't been able to break the trance of the water, but it was difficult. First I'd freaked out last night, now this. What was wrong with me?

 _'Feeling weak Thea?'_ a voice whispered nastily in my ear and I tried to ignore it but I failed. Even though I knew it was in my mind, I looked over my shoulder half convinced I'd see someone just a step behind me.

"What?" Dennis asked but I shook my head and kept walking.

I knew what it was now, so I should be able to block it out but I couldn't. It had been whispering to me ever since I'd left the chamber, but neither Adam nor Dennis seemed to be having the same problem.

 _'Maybe you're secretly a coward._ ' The voice suggested amused. _'That is what your cabin's always been about hasn't it? Sneaking around problems, running from danger, saving your own skin. You want to leave don't you? You want to go home.'_

'No.' I thought angrily. In order to calm myself down, I'd been thinking about better times. Weekends with Adam and Daisy in DC when the weather was nice and all the fun things we'd done together.

 _'But you don't really want to go home either do you?'_ it asked innocently but there was malice behind it's tone. _'Then you'd be back in school. Just another place you don't fit in.'_

I didn't respond.

 _'Did you ever even have a home?'_ it asked viciously. _'Your aunt didn't want you. No one wants you at camp. What happens if Adam doesn't want you either. Where would you go?'_

'He does want me.' I thought uncertainly.

 _'How can you be sure? Devin was right you know'_ the voice reminded quietly me as we walked. _'You're so different. Even Dennis thinks so.'_

'Shut up.' I thought bitterly wondering if I was going crazy. I was arguing with my own mind.

 _'What would Adam want with you?'_ it asked. It had switched ears now. _'What would anyone want with you?'_

'Stop talking.'

 _'Is that all you can think to say?'_ It asked me sounding cruelly amused. _'It is, isn't it? No smart come backs Thea?'_

I ignored it.

 _'Where's your smile now?'_

'Go to hell.'

 _'You know why you can't shut me out right? Can't think of anything to say. Because deep down you know it's the truth. He doesn't belong with you.'_

'Stop.' I thought a little desperately.

 _'You don't belong anywhere.'_

"I said shut up!" I said angrily my voice echoing off the walls and both Adam and Dennis froze. They turned to look at me and my stomach shrank as I realized in my frustration, I'd said this out loud. I heard the voice laugh softly and it vanished.

"We didn't say anything." Dennis said looking a little confused, but Adam was staring at me in concern.

"Thea, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I said glancing at my feet. I didn't want to look at him.

"Are you sure?" he asked uncertainly and I nodded. "Because you've been acting weird since-"

"I said I'm fine." I said and the boys looked at each other.

 _'Yes, snap at him. That will really help your relationship.'_ The voice sneered and my stomach tied itself into knots. _'But, maybe it will help you in the long run. He's going to leave anyways, just like everyone eles. Maybe the sooner you get it over with the better. Quick. Like a Band-Aid.'_

"Just leave me alone." I said not sure if I was talking to Adam or the voice. Only Adam listened.

I could feel his eyes on me as we walked, but he didn't speak, the voice on the other hand… It continued to whisper to me as we walked through the caves reminding me of all the reasons why Adam was too good for me. All the reasons why he would leave, just like my mother had, my father always did. Even my Aunt didn't want me. My own family… How could she not want me?

 _'Maybe you're just unlovable.'_ The voice suggested delicately.

"Stop!" I shouted pulling my necklace off and slashing my sword wildly behind me, convinced someone was there.

"Hades Thea!" Dennis said jumping back as I looked around. Why wouldn't it leave me alone?

"Ok, we're stopping." Adam said flatly. "Thea what's going on?"

"Nothing." I said shaking my head as he grabbed my wrist. "Adam, you don't have to-"

"You're going to hurt someone." He said seriously taking my sword from me. "We're not going another step until we figure out what's wrong with you."

"Nothing is wrong with me. I'm-"

"You are not fine." He said and I wasn't sure if he was angry or upset. Maybe both.

"He's right Thea." Dennis said quietly and I looked at him. "You look… not right."

"What time is it?" Adam asked and Dennis and he looked at his watch. "It's nearly ten."

"Let's just stop for the night." He said. "I think we all could use some rest."

"What about the fire?" Dennis asked anxiously. He still wasn't totally healed.

"We'll sleep in shifts. I think it's died down for the night. If anyone sees anything they can wake the others up." He looked at me. "Have you still got the charm that Austin gave you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Give it to me. I'm going to see if I can talk to Chiron through Austin. He might know what that water did to you."

 _'You know what's wrong with you…'_ the voice said. _'You're weak.'_

I really didn't want to, but Adam held out his hand expectantly and I knew I had no choice. I slid the charm off my camp necklace and handed it to him without meeting his gaze.

"I'll be back." He said kissing me on the forehead and looking at Dennis. "Stay with her." He said seriously.

 _'Oh look he's leaving,'_ the voice said delightedly as Adam started to walk down the corridor away from Dennis and I, no doubt to get a little privacy as he attempted to contact camp. _'Wouldn't you feel awful if he didn't come back?'_

Apov

Chiron didn't know what was wrong with Thea. Thinking back through all the history lessons we'd gone over, I was starting to realize that Deimos and Phobos really weren't covered all that much. All I really knew was that they were minor gods born to Aphrodite and Ares from their affairs, and they helped him defeat armies with the manipulation of fear. I was starting to realize this lack of knowledge was a real problem. I didn't know anything about them, so I had no idea what they wanted, if they were working for someone, or how to beat them.

It didn't make much sense for them to be working for someone else. The only person I could think they would be working for was Ares, but why would they steal his weapon if they were? It was all confusing and I wanted to ask Thea what she thought, Thea generally was right about everything, but she didn't seem to be in the mood to talk. This much was obvious when I got back to her and Dennis. They were sitting around a camp light Dennis had brought with him, and I saw that she was determinedly not looking at me. I would have thought she was angry, but her knees were drawn to her chest again. She didn't look angry. She looked scared.

This was extremely unsettling. I'd never known Thea to be afraid of anything, and this was a girl who'd almost fallen to her death just a few months ago. Dennis seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because he kept looking at her as if he wanted to speak, but then thought better of it.

"What did Chiron say?" Dennis asked glancing at his sister anxiously before turning to me.

"He's got no idea."

"I just don't get why they're doing this." Dennis said. "I mean, taking our father. Stealing their own father's weapon, what's the point? I'm sure he'd let them use it if they wanted."

At this Thea let out a bitter laugh but didn't elaborate even when we looked at her.

"What?" I asked.

"Ares doesn't share anything." She said. "Not glory, not spoils of war, and certainly not his weapons."

"Have you any ideas why they're doing this?" I asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked quietly her eyes reflecting the camp light and I saw Dennis glance at me, evidently just confused.

"No." we said in unison.

"They're jealous." Thea said shrugging. "They do a lot of work for him and no one knows who they are. He get's all the fame and reward. I'd be pissed too. Of course that kind of makes things worse for us."

"Why?" I asked frowning.

"Well obviously they went to great lengths to get this weapon. So they must be pretty confident their plan, whatever it is, is going to work. Some thing tells me that what ever they stole has a lot of fire power."

"Well that's the gods' problem." Dennis said. "We don't have to worry about that. We jut have to find Dad."

"When is it ever just the gods' problem?" Thea asked bitterly. "They'll find a way to drag us into it. They always do."

Her eyes were dark and the unnaturally resilient optimism she normally displayed seemed to have abandoned her for the moment. While usually exceedingly cheerful, Thea hadn't smiled since we left the chamber. She hadn't laughed, tried to annoy her brother, or me, or said anything sarcastic. Something was wrong, but she seemed determined to keep it to herself.

She offered to take the first watch for the night and while I knew I should have used this time to sleep I couldn't. I kept wondering what was wrong with her. I tried and failed to drift off for about twenty minutes until I finally gave up. I opened my eyes to see that Dennis wasn't sleeping either. He looked pretty miserable and was using his dagger to scratch something into the floor. I could see a rough sketch of what looked like a daisy and I grinned slightly, figuring I knew who he was thinking about.

My smile faded when my thoughts turned towards my own girlfriend, and after another five minutes I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to figure out what was going on with her.

I was unsurprised to see her sitting on a ledge in the cave several feet above me and while she didn't stop me from climbing up or sitting next to her, she didn't look at me either.

"You should sleep." She said quietly.

"I can't." I said honestly.

"Nightmares?" she asked this time looking at me in concern.

"No."

"Then what's wrong?"

"I think I'm the one who should be asking you that question." I said looking down at her and she looked away.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said stubbornly.

"I thought we were passed the point where you lie to me about things."

"I don't want to talk about it." She muttered still not looking at me.

"Think that might be the problem?" I asked and she didn't answer. "What's going on with you Thea? What aren't you saying?"

Silence stretched between us for a long time, and I remembered the time she'd found me on the roof of the Big House. The storm my emotions had been causing had only dissipated when I'd allowed myself to deal with the things that were bothering me. I was almost certain that this was what was causing Thea's problem. Blake was right. Whatever she'd seen in the water, and whatever had happened to her at the concert she wasn't dealing with. Where as I caused thunderstorms, with Thea it seemed, it was allowing Deimos and Phobos better access to her mind.

"What did you see?" she asked quietly, glancing at me.

"What do mean?"

"What did you see in the water?"

"Everything that terrifies me." I said honestly. "Not being able to save my friends, my family, Daisy finding out what I am and being afraid of it. Watching you fall."

"How did you get out?" she asked in frustration. "I don't understand why you and Dennis did but I-"

She shook her head and seemed angry with herself.

"I dunno." I said honestly. "I think I just realized it wasn't real and when I realized that, I was sort of able to just bring myself back."

"Dennis said the same thing." She said. "He said when he saw his sisters around him, that he knew it was fake. Makes sense I guess. I mean why would they be here?"

"When did you even talk to him about this?" I asked.

"When you were talking to Chiron."

"What did you see?" I asked and she shook her head.

"I don't want to talk about it." she mumbled.

"You can tell me."

"No I can't."

"How bad could it be?"

"You don't understand."

"Then explain it to me."

"I can't don't you get it?" she asked in frustration.

"Why not?"

"Because you're the problem!" she almost shouted but then a wave of tiredness seem to come over her because she sighed and put her face in her hands.

"What do you mean I'm the problem?" I asked trying not to feel hurt. Thea was under a lot of strain right now. She wasn't acting right. If she was she never would have said something like that.

"You said you could never love someone like me." she said softly.

"What?" I asked confused and horrified. "I never-"

"In the water." She said still not looking up. "That's what I saw. You leaving. You and everyone else."

"What do you mean everyone else?"

"My mother dead, my father captured, Dennis furious at me for not finding him, Tess and Blake gone and then you."

"Thea, I'm not going anywhere." I said incredulously. "Is that what your worried about?"

She nodded.

"Thea, I want you in my life."

"But what if one day you don't?" she asked looking away from me again.

"Why would you think that?" I asked her and I wasn't sure I heard her response right. I was pretty sure I'd heard the word 'bookmark' which made no sense.

"What?" I asked confused.

"That's what Devin said. That I was a bookmark, a place holder in your life before you moved on from me and I'm pretty sure that's what everyone thinks. Why wouldn't they?" she asked bitterly. "What are you even doing dating me Adam? No one understands why you like me."

"I don't like you. I love you. You know why, and what are you even doing listening to someone like Devin?" I asked in surprise. "He's an idiot. Out of all the people you could have let get to you, it was him?"

She shook her head.

"It's not just him. It's everyone. Even Dennis doesn't understand us. And ever since we were trapped in that water, I've been hearing these voices. They're messing with my head."

"What are they saying?"

"That everyone's going to leave me." She said quietly hugging her knees. "Especially you."

I paused for a moment, trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to say before I did. It was obvious the water had done something to her, and I wanted to be careful not to say anything stupid and set her off.

"Do you know what I saw when I looked in Aphrodite's mirror?" I asked eventually taking her hand and while she didn't pull away, she wouldn't look at me.

"You said you saw me." She said softly.

"I saw my future with you." I said

"What?"

"Yeah. We were married and we had kids, and you know what? I was happy. Before you, I honestly thought my life was destined for nothing but tragedy. I didn't want to think about my future because I honestly didn't think I would have one but with you…" I hesitated as my mind drifted back to the vision i'd seen in the vault. "I can see it."

She looked at me uncertainly but I continued.

"After I found out who I was, I never thought much about or ever really hoped that I'd ever be that happy. My mother ran my life like her career, my girlfriend was insane, I couldn't relate to my sister and honestly, I always felt pretty alone. But then you'd come along and it took me a while to realize it, maybe because I didn't think it was possible, but you made me happy. And you still do. I always want to be around you and I don't think that's ever going to change, and I don't want it to." I shook my head. "I don't want to freak you out or anything, but the truth is, I want you around for the rest of my life and I know it's not up to me, but if I had my way, I would."

"That's a long time Adam." She said shaking her head. "No one's stuck with me for that long."

"Blake's been around for a while." I pointed out.

"That's different." She said.

"Why?"

"He's as crazy as I am. We had to stick together."

"I don't think that's it." I said quietly and she looked at me.

"What do you think?"

"I think he sees the same person I do. The kind of person worth sticking with, the kind of person I would never leave."

"Promise?" she asked quietly and though she didn't look at me she allowed me to put my arm around her shoulders and she laid her head on mine.

"I promise."


	16. Chapter 16

Tpov

I ended up falling asleep and Adam took over my watch. I wasn't sure what had happened, and I didn't even realize it until I woke up, but after Adam had come to talk to me, the voice had vanished.

We didn't sleep long, we were all too antsy and when Dennis woke up, we finally made our way to the heart of the forge.

"Holy Hephaestus," Dennis said in amazement as he looked around at the massive room that was at least four times bigger than the vault in the maze had been. Pipes ran around it and a massive fire was burning in the corner next to a pile of cracked armor that obviously needed repairs. A hammer as tall as Dennis rested on an anvil the size of a small passenger plane, and the whole thing was made entirely of celestial bronze.

"Thea look at that!" he said excitedly, running over to a helmet that had wings on it, though one of them was chipped. "Think this is Dad's?"

"Dennis, be careful." I said annoyed. "This isn't a toy store."

It was stiflingly hot, and we were in the center of the volcano. Around us, lava ran through channels on the floor and he'd jumped over one to get to the item.

"But it's so cool!" he said putting it on. It was far too big for him, but his smile was wide. "Do I look like Dad?"

"Sure." I said and he cackled as he ran around looking for more things to steal.

"You know I'm a little surprised you're not going with him." Adam said looking around. "There's some pretty cool stuff in here."

"I'm here to find my father." I said flatly. "Not steal. Besides everything here is broken. He's just never seen anything like this before. He'll calm down in a second."

Dennis continued to dart around the room while Adam and I looked around. While there was evidence of damage and disrepair, whether from in activity or Deimos and Phobos I wasn't sure, I couldn't deny there was something beautiful about the heart of the forge. While it smelled strongly of metal and oil, it glowed. But it wasn't the dull orange glow as the rest of the forge, it was a bright pleasant gold and it seemed that the dark aura that the uninvited gods had thrown over the rest of the forge couldn't penetrate here.

"Man, what Tess would give to be here." I said softly looking through a book of sketches that seemed to have been drawn by the god himself. I hesitated for a moment, then put it in the front pocket of my bag. Well, I guess I could steal one thing. For Tess.

I smiled when I spotted a picture board tacked up on the wall along with various diagrams and blue prints. On it, I saw that Hephaestus had pinned several pictures of his current children around his plans. It seemed that he was one of the few gods that was actually concerned with his kids, because along with their pictures I saw ideas for birthday presents as well as the names of their half siblings and details like where they went to school or important upcoming dates in their lives. Next to Tess's picture, I saw that along with her sisters names he'd written "Boyfriend: Blake Ryker (total weirdo, ( ** _do not_** actually say this)) Best friend: Thea Reign (see Blake's description) – **MUST** remember to have a talk about life choices".

I laughed and pointed this out to Adam, but to my surprise, he frowned.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. It's just, it's weird to see a god that actually cares." He said looking at the picture board.

"They care." I said shrugging. "Just in their own way. They're easily distracted. I'm pretty sure my dad was legitimately surprised when he visited me for my fifteenth birthday. I think he thought I was several years younger."

"He still checked up on you though. Every time he found out you ran away he found you."

"So?"

"So it's easy for you to think that they care. Your father adores you. I'm pretty sure mine sees me as lackluster at best."

"I don't know how anyone could say that about you." I said in shock and he raised an eyebrow.

"Most of his kids are gods, he made Hercules a god, Thalia is immortal, and her brother saved the world. Compared to them my life has been relatively tame."

"Considering what they're famous for, maybe that's not a bad thing." I pointed out.

"Yeah, maybe." He said but he didn't look convinced and I remembered what Daisy had said about Adam being stressed about not living up to his parents' expectations.

"Well, I could sneak into Olympus and steal something if you want. You could bring me to justice."

He laughed.

"You don't see any flaws with that plan?" he asked grinning.

"No." I said trying and failing to keep a straight face.

"Uh, guys…" Dennis said from somewhere to our left. "You're going to want to see this."

We turned to see Dennis was standing by the anvil where a massive set of plans had been enlarged. They were taller than he was and he was staring up at them in what looked like unease.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"I think I know the weapon that was stolen. The one Dad was delivering."

I glanced at Adam, and then in the same moment, we were running to Dennis.

"That's not good." I said feeling my eyes go wide as Adam swore. We were staring at the plans for a massive spear made of celestial bronze with a point of pure gold. By the notes on the plans around it, I could see that it had the ability to magnify divine power almost indefinitely.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too." Dennis said. "This thing. They're going to use it to launch an attack on the Gods."

"But how?" Adam asked. "I mean, Ares I understand. With this he'd be essentially unstoppable in battle but his sons…"

"Have you forgotten what they did to you?" Dennis asked him incredulously. "How much they affected Thea? They've been messing with your minds for days and that's when they've been distracted. You both nearly drowned in that water while they were in your heads. Just imagine what they could do with this. If they were able to hit all of the gods at once."

"Olympus would literally be paralyzed by fear." I said. "They'd be so busy fighting their own minds, Deimos and Phobos could do anything they wanted. Ask for anything they wanted."

"But what do they want?" Adam asked frowning.

"I've no idea." Dennis said shaking his head but I thought back to the murals we'd seen. How they'd featured themselves in battles, having armies running away from them. As if they'd had the power of an Olympian, a major god.

"To take his place." I said quietly and the boys looked at me.

"What?" they asked in unison.

"Their father. They want to take his place as the gods of war. They're going to hold the gods hostage until they're forced to meet the brother's demands."

"We've got to find it." Adam said looking around as if hoping to spot the spear among the broken junk around us. "We've got to stop them."

"We've got to find my father." I said.

"Thea, if they move on Olympus, it's not going to matter if your Dad is found or not. He's just going to be trapped with the rest of them."

"That's why they need to be warned." I said. "My father's fast enough to get to them in time for them to prepare."

"But-" he started sounding torn.

"Do you really want to take on two Gods? Without any kind of back up?" I asked him raising an eyebrow.

"If we're voting," Dennis said interjecting himself into the conversation. "I'm going with a no."

But Adam, who was much more action driven than either Dennis or I, frowned and I could tell his instinct was conflicting with his reason.

"You know I'm right." I said in a pacifying tone. "We need help. We were never supposed to fight down here. We were supposed to find my father."

"Technically, you're supposed to be finding me." Dennis pointed out but I shot him a look and he shut up.

"Alright." Adam said eventually.

"We need to hurry." I said looking at Dennis. "Where are we going?"

"Just through here." He said gesturing towards a door. "It leads to the last corridor that will take us straight to the containment room and the biggest lava chamber. That's where this place draws it's power."

"I'll bet you anything that's where the brothers are." Adam said darkly but he caught my expression and quickly added. "Which we'll have to avoid."

"Sucker," Dennis said smirking at Adam, but then I turned to him and he looked down. "Sorry."

I rolled my eyes. Honestly, what was I going to do with them…

"Let's go boys."

We followed Dennis out of the heart of the forge and into the last unfinished section of the cave systems. As we closed the door behind us, we were greeted once again by freezing temperatures and heavy darkness. I could feel my thoughts turning darker, but I grabbed Adam's hand which seemed to help keep them at bay. We walked for about twenty minutes before we hit a fork. The cave split into two, the one on the right glowing the same orange light that we'd seen in earlier parts of the forge, while the left was dark and an icy breeze was drafting from it. Instantly I knew Adam was right, the gods were there, possibly waiting for us and I knew with even more certainty that it would be a mistake for any of us to take even a step in that direction.

"Right takes us to our father." Dennis said as if it wasn't obvious and while we started in that direction, Adam hesitated.

"Come on." I said tugging his hand but he didn't move.

"They're going to know we're going to try to free your father." He said quietly.

"So?" I said knowing what he was thinking, but not wanting to admit.

"So they're going to try to stop us. You're right, once he's out he can tell the gods what's going on. It's game over for them."

"Then we'll have to do it quickly. We're wasting time."

"I could buy you more time."

"No!" I said angrily and even Dennis shook his head.

"Why not?" Adam asked. "It's the smart thing to do."

"I don't care." I said furiously. "You're not taking on two gods on your own. That's suicide."

"I'm with Thea on this one." Dennis said frowning. "As much as I want our Dad free, they're going to use you as punching bag. Not even a punching bag. You'd be like… a hacky sack."

"But while they're distracted by me, they won't be after you."

"I said no!"

"It's not your decision." He said but I'd had enough. I pulled off my necklace and felt my sword transform in my hand, then held the point at Adam's throat.

"I didn't not spend my break chasing him across the across the country," I said gesturing towards Dennis. "And springing you from the Amazons to get us all back together only to have you mess it up now."

"Adam, just come with us." Dennis said annoyed. "You're wasting time."

Suddenly, there was a blast of icy wind that came from the cave on the left and the tunnel started shaking.

"We need to leave, now." I said but no sooner then the words had left my mouth, there was a loud 'crack' as a fissure appeared in the cave ceiling and I knew what was going to happen seconds before it did.

"MOVE!" I shouted tackling Dennis out of the way as a massive chunk fell from the ceiling.

He was thrown off his feet and rolled out of harms way, but as I looked up, I knew I wasn't going to make it in time. I watched in slow motion as the boulder sped towards me but then, I was hit with a massive gust as I was thrown towards Dennis as the cave continued to collapse.

"Adam!" I shouted in horror when I saw the rocks falling around him. I got to my feet and started to run.

"Don't! It's too dangerous!" Dennis said catching me but I threw him off and ran to towards the makeshift wall the rocks had created, dividing the corridor as effectively as if they were made of solid steel.

"No, no, no." I said trying to shift the rocks.

The corridor was still shaking.

"Thea, get out of here!" Adam shouted from a gap in the rocks.

"We're not splitting up!" I said desperately, throwing my weight against a boulder and ducking another chunk of the ceiling that came crashing to the ground. "We all just got back together."

"Thea!" Adam and Dennis shouted in unison.

"I'm not leaving you!" I yelled as another fissure cracked the ceiling and the cave with hit with a violent shudder.

"Just go!" Adam shouted.

"You said you were going to stay with me." I said and I could hear the terror in my voice. "You promised!"

"I'll be fine." He said as I tried and failed once again to shift the rocks, knowing it was useless. "Stay with Dennis, find your father. I'll try and head off the brothers."

"But-"

"Go!"

"You can't take on the gods on your own!" I said.

"I'll be ok." He repeated and when I continued to stare at him he said. "Have I ever lied to you before?"

"But what if you're not?" I asked.

"I promised I wasn't going to leave you." he said. "I'll come back."

"Come on Thea!" Dennis, who'd managed to make it through the raining rubble, said grabbing me.

"Wait, not yet!" I said but Dennis had come just in time. Not two seconds after he'd dragged me away from the rock pile, a massive boulder fractured from the ceiling and landed in the place I was standing, blocking the gap I'd been speaking to Adam through.

"Adam!" I shouted but the cave continued to collapse and Dennis dragged me down the corridor that would lead to our father.

"Get off me!" I said struggling but he held on to me tightly

"There's nothing we can do!" he shouted over the rumbling.

"But-"

But Dennis smacked the back of my head and I looked down at him stunned.

"Think Thea!" he said furiously. "Use that obnoxiously clever brain of yours. Going back there is going to do nothing but get us hurt or killed, and there's no way we could move those rocks. But if we get to Dad in time he might be able to help Adam. Now stop acting hysterical and start acting like my sister. He'll be fine."

I stared back at the tunnel, which had now almost completely caved in. Dennis was right. There was nothing I could do.

"Alright." I said taking a deep breath. "Alright let's go. Try to keep up."

"That's what I wanna hear." He said and together, we started sprinting down the corridor.


	17. Chapter 17

Apov

 _"Thea."_

 _"Yeah?" she asked as we walked towards the Big House for language lessons. She was tall for her age, and very skinny, but also extremely pretty. I knew in a few years she'd be quite beautiful._

 _I caught her wrist as she tried to put her hands in her pockets._

 _"That's mine." I said reclaiming my pocket knife and she frowned._

 _"How do you always catch me?"_

 _"Because I know you hate language lessons. You always take my stuff when you're bored."_

 _"No one else catches me." She said moodily and I grinned._

 _"No one else knows you as well."_

 _"Hey, you've been at camp a week sky boy." She said raising an eyebrow. "Calm down. We like just became friends."_

 _"You're my only friend." I said frowning but I wasn't really concerned about this. Since my first day here, after she'd attacked me, I found that Thea was the person I got along with easiest. It surprised me a little, usually it took me a while to feel close to anybody but there was something about her that I thought just clicked. Spending time with her was fun. Around her I felt like I could relax, it wasn't a feeling I was used to but one that I enjoyed. "Maybe you're just not as good a thief as you thought."_

 _"Don't even joke like that." she said rolling her eyes but I could tell she was offended._

 _"The evidence is stacked against you."_

 _"What time is it?"_

 _I glanced at my wrist and groaned as she laughed._

 _"Think again sky boy." she said holding up my watch which I snatched from her._

 _"That's what you were after the whole time wasn't it?"_

 _"I'm the best."_

 _I looked at her not sure if I was annoyed, but she smiled and as always I felt my irritation dissolve. I didn't know what it was about Thea, but I could never stay mad at her._

 _"Do you just laugh your way out of everything?" I asked and her smile grew._

 _"Pretty much."_

 _"What happens one day when you can't?"_

 _"The son of Zeus is my best friend." She said comfortably. "I think I'll be fine."_

 _"Oh I see." I said loftily. "Is that what I am to you? Your insurance policy in case you ever need someone to save your ass?"_

 _"Who says I'll ever need saving?" she asked raising an eyebrow. "What if in this scenario I'm the knight in shining armor?"_

 _"Then you probably stole the armor, and the poor knight is probably wondering where it is." I said and she looked pleased by this thought._

 _"I think he's more worried about his sword."_

 _"What?"_

 _She smirked and held up my pocket knife, then shot off towards the Big House laughing._

 _"Thea!"_

I woke up to a splitting head ache and looked around seeing nothing but darkness. Confused, I let shocks dart between my fingers and memories flooded back to me. As I remembered the cave in, I looked around at the piles of rocks that trapped me hopelessly. Despite what I told Thea, I had no idea how I was going to get out of this.

"Well you are in trouble aren't you Adam?" someone asked and I looked over to see the corridor was no longer illuminated just by the electricity I was producing, but by a tall beautiful figure emanating a soft glow, the same color of the mist I'd seen in her mirror. "You do look a mess." She said sounding a little amused. "But, it seemed for once you were having a good dream. Maybe you should get hit on the head more often."

Aphrodite didn't look like I'd expected her to. If I was forced to guess, I would have thought she would have been blonde with blue eyes, and like an older version of Crystal, but she wasn't. Her make up was flawless, as I would have expected it to be, but her hair was long and light brown, and her eyes were hazel with a familiar mischievous glitter in them. She looked like Thea's older, girlier sister, or Thea herself on the days my sister and my mother forced her to actually put effort into her appearance, with a few minor differences.

"Trust me." She said giving me a calculating look that reminded me of Thea examining a lock, determining if it was worthy of being in her collection. "You're not the only one this form has taken by surprise."

"Why are you here?" I asked feeling confused.

"To help you my dear boy." She said as if this were obvious.

"They managed to free Hermes?" I asked feeling relief flood through me.

"Oh no, you weren't knocked out for that long." She said inspecting her nails looking annoyed about something, but I couldn't think what it might be.

"Then how'd you know I was here?"

"I've been watching you for a long time." She said with a shrug, glaring around at the cave as if it was an insult to her and I realized why she was so irritated when she continued. "The love lives of children of the Big Three are far more interesting than my own boring marriage and Ares has been in such a temper since his stupid trinket was stolen." She sighed sulkily. "So I decided to check in on you. You're not doing too well." She observed sitting gracefully on a rock and giving me a shrew expression, as if this would be news to me.

"Thanks for the reminder." I said sarcastically and she raised an eyebrow.

"I'm here to help you you know." She said haughtily. "You could lose the attitude. It's not my fault you got yourself buried."

"Why do you have any interest in me at all?" I asked and she gave me another contemplative look. As if she wasn't really sure what to think of me.

"Usually with heroes like you and other exceptionally powerful demigods, I take such care to plan out your love stories. Your lives are hard enough as it is, and when you find someone I want them to be worth your struggles. Not that you were much help." She said narrowing her eyes at me.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"You are a stubborn man Adam." She said resentfully. "Frustrating too. I'll admit your story got a little away from me at times. I studied you for years sending every type of girl your way to try and figure you out, but you were having none of it. You didn't even notice them, but not even I would have thought to send you a thief."

She shook her head and paused for a moment considering the wall, as if a little bemused.

"Then, after years of frustration with you, you stumbled across Thea's path completely by accident and in a twist ending, I knew you'd found what you were looking for. I loved it. You found exactly who you wanted on your own, and even when my most powerful daughter thought she had you, you fought it every bit of the way." She fixed me with a second shrewd expression. "I don't think you realize just how rare that is, to break free of one of my children when caught under their spell but you managed it and every time I saw you two weird little demigods together I just thought, well this fits. No one saw it coming, and I'm pretty sure you were both confused yourselves, but sometimes things just work." She shrugged. "And you and Thea do."

"So you're not mad I broke up with Crystal?" I asked wondering as I spoke, how I was letting this come out of my mouth. I was reminding a goddess that I'd dumped her daughter. Where was Thea when I needed someone to shut me up?

She frowned slightly and hesitated, and seemed to be choosing her words carefully before she spoke.

"Usually, I would applaud my children to go after what they wanted…" she sighed. "I have to admit. I was a little disappointed in Crystal. Ambitious it might be, but I can never really support someone actively trying to stop real love. And she knew what she was meddling with. It's why she's disliked Thea so strongly. But then again," She said thoughtfully. "She didn't really understand you, so maybe she couldn't understand why you would fall for someone like Thea."

"Someone like me?" I asked and her eyes flashed.

"You're not nearly as obedient to the gods as people think you are. You've always tried to have things your own way. Violating the rule of three on quests and taking missions solo. Trying to defy the fates and save every soul you come across, even if they're not meant to be saved." She fixed me with an appraising look. "Thea should have died in that maze you know, but you just _had_ to give her your power. Had to have things your way. Then you stole her from Artemis, in fact, in many ways you are just out right defiant to the Gods. You've never followed our plans."

She glowered at me and I felt I knew this expression. It reminded me of how Dennis looked at me often, or Tess when she'd walked with me to the Big House over the summer as we went to check on Thea after an injury. Like she wasn't sure if she liked me or not.

"If I'm so much trouble, why are you here?" I asked.

"Because I'd like to see how your story ends." She said eventually. "You've had flashes of it, I know you have, but knowing isn't the same thing as seeing. Despite your stubbornness, I like watching your story unfold. Compared to some of your brothers in the past, it's not just tragic and depressing. It's a nice change of pace. I would like to think all time and frustration spent on you wasn't a waste. You might actually have a happy end."

A silence stretched between us as she continued to contemplate me, which to me, just felt like wasting time.

"So you can really help me out of here?" I asked.

"Yes." She said. "Although it's hard not to be insulted by your tone of surprise. I am an Olympian who could easily crush you if you fail to show the proper respect."

"How can you get me out?" I asked ignoring this and looking around, the tunnel was completely caved in.

"You don't honestly think Hephaestus would let parts of his forge become inaccessible to him from something as trivial as a tunnel collapse do you?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

She put her hand on the wall behind her and there was a flash of golden light. Two doors were outlined in fiery gold, then appeared, made of glowing celestial bronze.

"How did you-" I started in amazement but she cut me off.

"I've spent enough time in my husband's forges to know their tricks." She said looking irritated. "They're so dreary, but, I guess they have their uses."

"If you were able to find me down here, how come he didn't know anyone was here?"

"My husband is a very unobservant man." she said sourly. "It's what makes him such an unsatisfying partner. He doesn't notice anything. New hair cuts, new clothes." She looked extremely annoyed now. "He's probably off at one of this other forges working away." She rolled her eyes. "He was the last to see Hermes and would be the last to know he was missing. In fact, I'd be surprised if he even found out something was wrong before he was back."

"So which do I go through?" I asked looking at the two doors. They were identical.

"That depends on what kind of man you are." She said with a shrug. "One will take you where you want to go." She said and the door on the left shimmered showing a corridor where Thea and Dennis were running as fast as their father's speed would let them. "The other," she said and the right door started to flicker. "Will take you to where, deep down, you know you need to be."

It settled on an image of a dark room, lit only by the red glow of lava that surrounded a small island, with a narrow stone bridge crossing the fiery lake. In the center of the rocky isle was a glowing spear. The spear from the plans Dennis had discovered, that was obviously drawing power from the volcano.

"So, what are you going to choose?" Aphrodite asked curiously. "Safety with Thea, or are you going to try and buy her some time?"

I hesitated, staring between the two, what I wanted battling with what I knew was right.

"She and her brother might make it." she said casually. "You could go after them and my sons might not pursue, but you've seen what they've done here. The lengths they've gone to enact their plans. We both know that if Thea reaches her father that they won't be very forgiving."

"I can't beat them." I said quietly. "Not on my own."

"Probably not." she agreed. "But you can try, and the time spent during the fight might just allow your girlfriend and her brother to make it out of here alive."

"You wouldn't want to help me, would you?" I asked bleakly and she gave me a wry smile.

"Already asking for more favors?" she asked amused. "Unfortunately I cannot. My sons take much more after their father than they do me. I'm not stupid enough to get drawn into this fight and neither is Hermes." She said giving me a significant look. "So don't think he'll be coming back for you. It's not a smart decision and he's got a message to deliver. He'll take his children and leave. You'll be on your own."

"Is there anything you can do?" I asked and she gave me a calculated look. "Do they have any weaknesses? Something I should know before this fight?"

"Just this." She said glancing back at the image of Thea and her brother then back at me. "Love will always be stronger than fear."

I felt something warm on the back of my right hand, and I looked down to see something bright and glowing. It faded, I saw on my skin, was a golden dove, still glowing faintly.

"What is this?" I asked.

"That is my mark." She said getting to her feet.

"That doesn't help me." I said indignantly.

"Not yet." She said cryptically. "But it will. You should feel honored Adam. Very few men have received it over the millennia."

"What are you-" I started but I was forced to look away as her figure started to glow.

There was a flash as she vanished, and the doors slowly opened. The hall on the left made of a glowing bronze, and the hall on the right, with rough stone walls and obsidian steps that was leading down into a dull red glow.

"What was that about?" I asked quietly looking at the back of my hand at the bird.

Knowing I was quite possibly walking to my death, I stepped towards the corridor on the right thinking of Thea. I knew if she were here she'd be furious. I could see her expression in my mind, and I knew what she would say.

'You promised.'

"Sorry Thea." I said quietly as the corridor to my left flickered, then, as I made my choice, vanished leaving only the door on the right and what lay ahead.

I stepped through it and was surprised when it didn't shut behind me. I left it open as I descended the stairs. It didn't take long to reach the lava chamber, and when I did, I saw two men, both massive with dark hair and their backs to me, looking at the glowing spear in front of them that was pulsing with the power it was drawing from the volcano around it.

"You felt it too?" the one on the right said and I realized it was the voice I'd heard and in the cell with the Amazon's.

"Yeah." Said the second man, and I recognized the man from the concert. "I don't know what Mom was doing here, but do think she realized we were here?"

"I doubt it. She probably just came to yell at her husband. She left pretty quickly. Probably realized he wasn't here."

"We're lucky she didn't run into the demigods. That would have raised some questions."

"Speaking of them, one of us should probably go check to make sure those little Hermes brats haven't found their father."

"What about Zeus's spawn?"

"We got him during the cave in. That was a good idea Deim. He might have been a problem. You want the girl?"

Rage shot through me and I felt my sword transform in my hand, but I kept quiet determined to let them talk for as long as possible for two reasons. One, to get more information, and two, to waste as much time as possible.

"No, you go after her. See if you can get back into her mind. You had quite a hold on her there for a while."

"What about the brother?"

"You can deal with him after, he's just a kid. He won't get far without her."

"Alright." He turned and made to cross the bridge, but froze, apparently startled when he spotted me at the base of the stairs.

"Deim?"

"Yeah Bos?"

"We've got a problem."

"What is it?" Deimos asked turning and his eyes were wide. Unlike his brother's whose were black, his eyes were blood red. The eyes I'd seen in the shard of mirror in the store room.

"How-" Deimos started reaching for the spear but Phobos had the answer for him.

"This was Mom." He said with a growl. "She always likes sons of the Big Three. So, you're alive then?"

"Obviously."

"And you really think you're going to stop us from getting your girlfriend?" Deimos sneered gripping the spear tighter and a dark shadow enveloped him.

I felt my heart rate incase and in the back of my mind I felt myself being dragged down to the visions I'd had in the water, but I forced them back. As long as they were here, they couldn't reach Thea. I had nothing to fear.

"Oh, you're annoying." Phobos said his eyes narrowing, obviously noticing their power had diminished in it's effect.

"It doesn't matter if he's gained a resilience." Deimos said directing the spear towards me. "Not with this."

The room grew darker and colder as the darkness around him grew, then shot out the tip of the spear. I raised my sword hoping to deflect it when there was a flash of bright gold and the sound of wings.

"What the-" the brother shouted stepping back in unison as the skin on my hand burned and a massive dove made of golden light swooped between the shadow and I. There was a musical coo and the shadows dissolved in the bright light of the dove.

"Mom." Phobos growled bitterly and Deimos looked just as irritated as the dove soared around the room.

"She's always interfering when you'd least expect it." he tried aimed the spear again, but with a caw, the dove swooped on the brothers.

They shouted covering their faces as the bird opened its feet, seized the spear, and with a victorious song, it dropped the weapon on a ledge high above us almost at the top of the cavern walls.

"Stupid bird!" Deimos shouted as it vanished and he looked at his brother. "Go get it!"

Phobos went to the edge of the island, obviously intending to jump to the wall and scale it to retrieve the spear, but I shot a shock to the wall where he would have landed and it cratered.

"You'll have to deal with me first." I said darkly and the gods turned to me.

"Fine." Deimos said holding out his hand and after a flash, a battle axe appeared in it. "If you're that determined to die."

Phobos hadn't summoned a weapon and I was confused by this until he looked at his brother.

"Still want me after the girl?"

"Yeah, get out when you can. I'll keep this one busy."

Thea probably would have thought of something smart to say, but nothing occurred to me as my brain shut out any information that wasn't related to my battle training.

"You know you can't win this." Deimos snarled at me. "It's two against one. A mere mortal against two Gods."

"I don't have to win."

"Pathetic." He spat. "All this over a stupid little thief."

I didn't answer but kept my sword steady.

"No one's coming back for you." Phobos said coldly. "There's no honor among thieves."

"Will you two shut up?" I asked irritated. "Gods, you two talk more than my little sister."

They looked offended but I'd had enough.

"You asked for it." Deimos growled and as shocks ran down my sword, he charged.


	18. Chapter 18

Merry Christmas everyone! If you don't celebrate Christmas still hope you have a nice day!

~secrethalfblood

Tpov

Dennis and I made it through the corridor quickly and when we hit a solid gold door, I knew we'd found the right place.

"This is it." Dennis said looking at the door his eyes wide. "It's gotta be."

He went to push it open, then made a frustrated noise after throwing his weight on it several times.

"It's locked!"

"Have you forgotten who we are?" I asked him raising and an eyebrow.

"Right." He said awkwardly. "Do you want to or should-"

But I glanced at the door. There was a 'click' and Dennis, who still leaning on it, toppled through the door.

"You ok?" I asked as he scrambled to his feet and we looked around.

We were in the biggest chamber of the cave system we'd seen so far. It's ceiling rose at least fifty feet in the air and all around us were banging and whirring automatons of every type of metal, chained to the stone walls, some sparking others jerking and trying to free themselves. A small tank was ramming what looked like a magic force field. It pointed it's barrel at the hazy blue barrier and shot at it everyone and a while, then gave up and started trundling around it's small enclosure.

"Oh my gods." Dennis said looking around as behind a wall of reinforced glass, a gold and a silver Cyclopes brawled with each other, often slamming against the glass, but even as the cavern shook it remained in tact.

Finally, my eyes fell on the back of the cavern, where a massive gold cage was standing on it's own and in it was a familiar figure. His eyes closed, his back resting against the bars.

For the first time ever, I saw him in traditional Greek attire, a toga and sandals with wings coming off. While usually his hair was brown, it was black and curly and in his semi divine form, I saw when his eyes opened they were blue. He was much younger than I'd ever see him before, but there was no doubt who this was. The soft white light that as emanating from him, and power that radiated from the cage was familiar.

"Dad!" Dennis said running to the cage and grabbing the bars.

"Hey kiddo." He said sounding tired but smiling. "I knew you'd find me. You listening to your sister yet?"

"Yeah." He said looking down for a second, but then back at him. "So she was right then? You threw me in the deep end?"

"Your sister is usually right." He said with a sigh and looking at me. "How are you Thea?"

I tried to say fine but I couldn't manage it. This mission had not been fine. Nothing about it had been fine.

"Yes, it's been a rough couple of days hasn't it?" he asked and I wondered if he knew what I'd been thinking. "But your mother would have been proud of you. You're tougher than you look, just like she always was…"

"We're going to get you out of here." Dennis said reaching for his book bag, taking out his pick kit, and holding it out for me. "You do it. We don't have time."

Aware that my father was watching, I picked the lock and the opened the cage door after which my father staggered to his feet. He still looked exhausted, as if he was recovering from an illness.

"Thank you Thea." He said quietly, stepping out of the cage and resting a hand on the bars. "You too Dennis. I am a very proud father today."

"Are you alright?" Dennis asked looking concerned as he swayed.

"Just a little tired." He said and I shrugged off my book bag, then grabbed the med kit where the emergency ambrosia was located.

"Here." I said handing him the bag that held the squares and he took the entire thing. Not being mortal he could eat as much as he wanted without fear of burning up.

"Thank you." he repeated. As he ate, the light around him intensified and the mischievous glitter I was used to seeing returned to his eyes.

"Well." He said tossing the bag on the floor and looking around. "I think it's time we leave this place. Don't you? I imagine I'm quite behind in my work. I've already got quite the message to deliver to our king."

"What about Adam?" Dennis asked awkwardly.

"Where have you left him?"

"Half buried in one of the caves back there." Dennis said gesturing towards the exit.

"And I'm guessing you expect me to dig him out?" he asked me shrewdly. "What happened? He couldn't keep up?"

Anger flashed through me but surprisingly, it was Dennis who defended him.

"Actually, he saved Thea." He said quietly. "Used his powers to push her out of the way as the tunnel collapsed. He didn't have time to get out himself."

"Well," my father said gruffly after glancing at me. "He might be slow, but at least he's brave."

"You're going to help him right?" Dennis asked as my father considered me. His expression was difficult to read, but his eyes were hard. I found I thought I knew what his answer would be before he gave it.

"Seems like a waste of time really. Either he's alive or he isn't. His father can dig him out later." He said with a shrug. "I've got to leave."

"Dad!" I said angrily.

"Thea. I've got a message to deliver and I'm not spending another minute in this forge, and I'm taking you two with me."

"I'm not leaving without Adam." I said furiously.

"Why?" he asked disdainfully.

"He saved my life!"

"He made his choice. It's not your fault he couldn't keep up."

"He's my boyfriend!"

"I don't see why." He said shrugging sounding unconcerned. "I always thought you were too good for him."

"You don't know anything about him!" I said indignantly. It was ironic really. Everyone had been saying for months that they didn't understand why Adam would want anything to do with a troublemaker like me, but now, when he was in trouble and my own father could save him, my father of all people didn't think _Adam_ was worth it.

"He's the text book definition of a hero Thea." He said sounding unconcerned. "There are and always will be boys like him littered through out history. They all meet the same end. Just find another boy or better yet, someone completely different."

An ugly silence rose like a wall between us. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I'd always thought of my father as a generally pretty easy going guy, nice to demigods, at least some what attentive to his kids. At least more than most of them comparatively. Never once did I believe what people had always said about him, that he would turn and run when things god difficult. Abandon people when they weren't his most viable option, but here he was, confirming of one of their suspicions. Acting exactly like they said he would. After everything he'd done, how could he just abandon Adam like this?

"How can you say that?" I asked softly. "He's here to help us find you."

"Because I don't want a son of Zeus anywhere around you." he said angrily.

"Dad..." Dennis said in a warning tone his eyes wide but more anger was coursing through me.

"He saved my life."

"Your life wouldn't need saving if you'd joined the hunters!" he said furiously. "Or stayed at camp. It wasn't until this stupid boy came along that you were ever in any danger, and now that he's involved with you it's never going to stop! He's the son of the most powerful God on Olympus. There's a reason why Zeus's sons are known for tragedy. Their lives are nothing but turmoil, and they drag everyone they care about into it. Especially the women they love." he glared at me. "No self respecting father would _ever_ want him anywhere near his daughter."

"Well I don't care what you think." I said quietly turning and walking back to the corridor. I could feel my body shaking in anger.

How could he do this to me? I'd devoted my life to being a child of Hermes. From the day I'd been claimed I'd worn the symbol like a badge of honor. While so many people had been afraid or ashamed when they'd been assigned to our cabin, I'd always taught them to be proud. I never asked him for anything. When he vanished out of my life I never complained. All the insanity that came not just from being a demigod, but being his child specifically, I'd taken it, always. Now when I needed him, he had the audacity to say no.

"Thea, where are you going?" Dennis asked nervously.

"To find something that can shift those rocks." I said flatly.

"Get back here young lady!"

"No!" Maybe I could release the Cyclopes. They'd be able to smash through those rocks, and pretty much anything that got in their path, but would they accidentally crush Adam?

"Thea, I your father!"

"Then help me!" I said furiously turning back to face him and he looked conflicted.

"I have to get to Olympus."

"Dad I've never asked you for anything." I said bitterly and his gaze met mine. "Please."

"Alright." He said eventually. "But if he ever breaks up with you he's going right back you hear me?" His tone was serious but suddenly he smiled. "After you're done with him of course."

"Deal." I said with a smile.

"Let's go Dennis." My father said extending his hand and adjusting one of the wings on his sandals. "Once again, it seems as if your sister has to get her boyfriend out of trouble."

I jogged over to him, and the second my hand touched his, there was a rushing sensation and we were back in the cave having traveled fast than even Apollo's chariot, which seemed glacial in comparison.

Both Dennis and I staggered as we stopped, Dennis actually toppling over and my father laughed.

"You handled that quite well." He said in approval looking at me as I tried to stop the room from spinning. "Most people when they travel with me…"

I heard a retching noise and looked over at Dennis who was doubled over clutching his stomach.

"Well, they do that." My father said gesturing back at Dennis who looked back at us.

"You couldn't have given us a little warning." he asked between gags.

Ignoring this completely, my father contemplated the pile of rocks in front of us.

"Are you sure he's not a pancake?" he asked looking at me with an eyebrow raised and fear gripped at me.

"Yes." I said, though I wasn't.

'Calm down.' I thought. 'Adam is fine.'

"Where was he when you last saw him?"

"Over there." I said pointing at the biggest rock about ten feet down the pile. It had been the one that nearly crushed me and sealed Adam in for good.

"Stand back." He said and I did as I was told, walking back to Dennis who was getting slowly to his feet.

There was a white flash, and a short staff appeared in his hand, with wings and two snakes curled around it.

"George, Martha. You know what to do." He said and the snakes nodded in understanding.

There was another flash as they hopped off Caduceus and shrank, then wriggled between the cracks of the stone pile.

"What are they doing?" Dennis asked curiously.

But his question was answered when there was a loud scraping and clacking, as boulders started shifting.

"Holy sh-" Dennis started, but my father snapped his fingers and Dennis's hand covered his mouth.

"You're too young to be using language like that." My father said irritated as George and Martha, now the size of city buses, slithered, pushing rocks from the pile towards the walls of the cavern.

"We've checked the rocks sir." George said looking at my father. "We didn't see anyone."

"What?" I asked and Dennis, who'd been wrestling with his own hand, managed to separate it from his mouth.

"That's impossible." He said frowning.

"Maybe he went through the door?" Martha suggested helpfully.

"What door?" Dennis and I asked in unison.

"That one." She said gesturing her tail behind the pile of rubble and Dennis and I clambered over the rocks to see a narrow bronze door set into the wall that had certainly not been there when we'd been in this cave before.

"Where did that come from?" Dennis asked sounding stunned.

"You didn't see this on the map?" I asked looking down at him.

"No, nothing like that was here before."

"It must be magic then." My father said brightly."Good news Thea. Your boyfriend might actually be alive."

"But where is he?"

"That's none of my concern," my father said shrugging. "I've done my job. Come along children."

He extended his hands, obviously meaning for us to take them again, but while Dennis walked towards him didn't. Instead I stepped over to the door, and after sensing for traps, I opened it.

A wave of heat rushed over me as a dry gust escaped the dark staircase and I noticed the stone walls were lit by a dull red glow.

"Dennis." I said quietly.

"Yeah Thea?" he asked.

"What did you say the last room of the forge was? A lava chamber?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"He went after them." I said quietly.

"What?"

"Deimos and Phobos. He went after them."

"You can't be serious." Dennis said while my father swore.

"Idiot boy." He continued and I glared at him.

"He's probably why they haven't found us yet."

"Well if he wasn't dead before he certainly is now Thea. Let's go."

I didn't move.

"Thea!" my father shouted angrily but I heard a low rumbling from the depths of the steps. It made my heart skip. I knew that sound. It was thunder.

"He's still alive." I said whispered.

"Get over here!"

"I'm staying." I said shaking my head.

"You are not!" My father shouted indignantly. "Thea. I know he's your boyfriend, but he made his choice. There's no sense in both of you dying."

"I'm not leaving him." I said looking back at my father who looked furious. "He needs help."

"Thea, I can't stay here. I can't help you."

"I know that."

"You're going to get yourself killed!"

"Dad's right." Dennis said looking upset. "Going after Adam is too dangerous."

"That's why you've got to go with him." I said.

"You've got to come too!" Dennis insisted.

"I'm not leaving."

"Thea use your head!" my father growled. "If the son of Zeus can't handle them, what are you going to do?"

"You know me dad." I said grinning though it felt a little hollow. "I'm your daughter. I'll think of something."

He made an irritated noise but his eyes glittered with a dark amusement.

"You know you really are like your mother." He said shaking his head. "She would never give up on anyone. No matter the situation. It's something I always loved about her."

He sighed.

"You know you're too brave for your own good." He said fixing me with a scrutinizing gaze. "But maybe that's what makes me so proud to call myself your father."

"Love you too Dad." I said smiling, but this one was genuine.

"Let's go Dennis." He said holding out his hand but Dennis was looking at me.

"Are you sure you want to do this Thea?"

I nodded.

"What if you don't come back?" he asked his voice catching.

"Dennis, has there anything I haven't been able to get out of?" I asked him.

"You'd better come back." He said fretfully. "Who's going to stop Austin from killing me when I get back to camp?"

"You'll have to hide behind Hannah." I said.

"I'm pretty sure she'll be handing him the weapons." He said his eyes going wide.

"I'll take him to the Amazons." My father said looking at me. "I can drop him off on my way to Olympus."

Dennis's eyes went wide and he frantically started shaking his head.

"That might not be the best idea." I said.

"Why not?"

"We kind of destroyed their warehouse." I said and my father blinked in surprise, but quickly recovered.

"They'll take care of him." He said shaking his head. "We have a good relationship. I've often helped them on their deliveries. I can offer to give their preferred clients next second shipping for a few days. That should keep them happy."

"Alright." I said amused and then with a flash they were gone.

I stared after them but suddenly, I felt a something cold wash over me and I turned to see a figure stepped out from the door behind me. It seemed as if he'd been hiding in the shadows, waiting for me to be alone.

"Finally." Said a familiar voice, as in front of me, stood a massive man with short dark hair and an evil smile. Behind his sunglasses his eyes were pure black. "I thought they were never going to leave."

"So you're the one whose been in my head." I said as around me the corridor grew darker and colder.

"Yes." He said smirking and I could feel my thoughts starting to swirl as he tried to gain access to my mind, searching for weak points.

Memories flashed behind my eyes, my mother, the noise of the chaos, my siblings trapped by monsters, and Adam trapped by the cave in.

"I know what you're afraid of little girl." He said grinning as my heart rate increased. He was carrying a broad sword made of blackened iron that he was raising. "And I know how to break you. Are you stupid enough to challenge me? Or is the part where you beg for mercy?"

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Really?" he asked raising an eyebrow. "I think our history would suggest otherwise."

"It's Phobos right?" I asked guessing by his aura which brother I was facing.

"I'm impressed." He said and he looked it. "Not many can differentiate between my brother and I with such ease."

"Yeah. Well." I said sourly, pulling off my necklace feeling my sword transform in my hand. "You've spent a fair amount of time in my head. And I've been meaning to tell you something."

"What's that?" he asked.

"Shut the _hell_ up."


	19. Chapter 19

Apov

If you're thinking of fighting a god, even a minor one, I wouldn't recommend doing it, not unless you absolutely have to.

I was thrown back into the cavern wall again feeling a shock of pain wave through my body for what felt like the millionth time today, but I couldn't dwell on it. I rolled out of the way of the blade of the axe and forced myself to my feet even though my whole body felt like it was made out of bricks. Very unwilling bricks that just wanted to collapse into pile and accept my fate, but I didn't. I held my sword ready and braced myself for the next attack.

"Won't you just die already!" Deimos shouted in fury swinging his axe. I caught the blow with my sword and felt the strike vibrate down the metal into my arms.

We both were forced back, but I was thrown several feet almost off the ledge and was forced to push myself forward with the winds to avoid falling into the lava.

"You are an incredibly frustrating mortal." He said grinding his teeth shaking his hand that I knew must be stinging from the contact. I knew mine were.

"Apparently you're not the only god to think that."

Phobos had finally gotten passed me, but I was confident that Thea and Dennis had managed to find Hermes. While I had no exit strategy, I knew that if they freed their father, they'd be safe.

Both of us were breathing hard, and vaguely I was aware of a distant amazement within myself that I wasn't dead already. Granted, Deimos still didn't have the spear, but still… He was a god. I couldn't keep this up much longer.

"Aren't you tired of fighting demigod?" he asked darkly. "Even if it was just to stall, your girlfriend has either been trapped by my brother or is long gone by now. Don't you want me to just end it?"

I didn't answer, but stepped away from the ledge not taking my eyes off him. I noticed something move in my peripheral vision, but forced myself to stay focused. If I took my eyes off him for even a second, I knew I was dead.

"You really want more?" he asked incredulously.

I didn't answer.

"Alright." He said shaking his head and charging at me.

I ducked as he lunged and he shot passed me. For the first time I could really appreciate just how brilliant of a fighter Thea was. I rarely met an opponent that was stronger than me, or felt the need to drag out a battle, so I'd never had to conserve energy during one. But I'd quickly found that there was no way I was going to over power Deimos, and I finally had to use the evasion tactics Chiron had taught me in my first few lessons in the arena what felt like decades ago and now realize just how difficult it was. I wasn't very good at it, but Deimos was big and comparatively slow. If I didn't take him head on, the blows he did land weren't fatal, and while I might not have been Thea, watching her fight had given me an idea of what I needed to be doing. I'd like to think if she'd seen me right now she'd be proud. I could tell by the noise of frustration he let out that, amazingly, I was wearing him down.

I quickly swung my sword behind me and felt a surge of satisfaction go through me when it connected.

Deimos let out a shout of rage and pain and I had to jump out of the way as he snatched at me.

"You." he said his voice shaking with rage and I saw golden ichor dripping off the edge of my blade. "I am going to crush you."

He wasn't the only one that was bleeding. Despite trying to fight like her at the moment, I wasn't Thea, and I was far from a master of evasion. I'd taken a lot of damage and I knew I couldn't last much longer. My body was starting to give out. Each time lifted my sword it was heavier, and I could no longer produce any lightning. I'd tried several times but I was simply too exhausted.

I thought I saw a shadow moving along the cavern walls, but before I could even start assigning it explanations, I was forced to parry another blow.

"You. Stupid. Demigod." Deimos shouted punctuating each word with swing. "Just. Fight. Back!"

I back pedaled continuing to duck and weave out of his attacks but he got a little too close. I tried to force him back with a gust of wind, but produced nothing more than a light breeze.

He smirked.

"You're all out of gas boy." He said and with one final swing, his axe met my sword and while I'd blocked the blow, I was forced off my feet and my sword was thrown out of my hands.

"Finally." Deimos said walking over to me and stepping on my chest as I struggled to get to my feet. He forced me back to the rocky floor. "I'll admit you put up a much better fight than I would have thought, but the funs over." I coughed roughly as he leaned more of his weight on me.

"Tell me something Kall." He said smirking cruelly. "Was it worth it? Was a daughter of that sneak thief Hermes really worth dying for?"

I didn't answer mainly because I couldn't. All the oxygen had been forced from my lungs, and it felt like my ribs had cracked, but I was also tired. Tired of this mission, tired of my head being messed with, tired of the gods interfering with my life and feeling afraid. I just wanted to see Thea again. Even if it might be for the last time.

"You're still thinking about her aren't you?" he asked looking down at me with disdain. "You are. I can see it in your sad little face. Boy don't you get it. That girl is long g-"

"You know." Said a familiar voice and we both looked up in shock to see someone standing on the ledge where Ares's spear had landed. "I'm _really_ getting sick of people assuming things about me because of who my father is. And, you know, of the gods trying to kill me and my boyfriend."

Thea was standing on the ledge, a familiar smile on her face and finally, for the first time in days, the mischievous glitter had come back to her eyes. She standing, leaning against the spear which was holding her weight.

"I like your toy." She said smirking at him and nodding towards the spear. "I think I'm going to keep it."

"How did you get in here?" Deimos asked furiously, forgetting about me and I felt the pressure on my chest ease as he stormed towards the edge of the island and glared at her.

"Thief." She said grinning.

"Give that back!"

She laughed.

"That is not happening."

"Where is Phobos?" Deimos asked.

"He's a little distracted at the moment." She said. "He might or might not be dealing with a couple of metal Cyclopes that I let lose. How does this thing work anyways?" she asked glancing at the spear. "Is there like some sort of on switch or…"

But suddenly, her figure started to glow. Not silver like when she'd been a part of the hunters, but a bright white. Like the glow that surrounded her father.

"Not bad." She said grinning. "I didn't even have to call tech support."

"You insolent brat." Deimos spat furiously. "You're going to have to come down sometime."

"Well yes I think that's obvious." She said sarcastically.

"And when you do I'm going to obliterate you."

She grinned.

"You have to catch me before you do that."

She then jumped off the ledge to a fall that should have killed her, and landed lightly on the island, no doubt her already enhanced agility magnified by the spear.

"So." She said smirking at Deimos. "Is it nice to finally meet me?"

I forced myself to sit up as pain radiated through my chest and every muscle in my body screamed in protest.

"How are you Adam?" she asked looking at me.

"I'll survive." I said my voice tight and concern flashed across her features, then she looked angrily at Deimos.

"I'll make this quick." She said then vanished.

"What the-" Deimos asked looked around in confusion but Thea had already turned up behind him a shoved him to the ground.

"Three things you should know about me before we end this." She said darkly and the ring she always wore glowed, and shocks ran down the spear.

Deimos tried to crawl away, but she pressed the tip between his shoulders and he let out a roar of pain as the electricity darted over him, magnified by the effect of the spear.

"I don't run from fights." she said her eyes blazing as the shocks increased in intensity. Deimos tried to push himself off the ground, but she stepped on the back of his head, forcing his face none to kindly into the stone, protected from the electricity by my fathers ring.

"I'm not some scared little girl." She kicked him over so he was forced to look at her. "And I don't leave people behind."

"Insolent little thief." he spat his arm jerking violently as he tried to reach up and grab the spear.

"My name's not thief." she said and I could see real fury in her eyes. "It's Thea."

There was a bright flash and he was blasted fifty feet away from her and landed hard on the ground.

"You stupid brat!" he said his voice shaking as the shocks dissipated.

"That's Hermes brat." She said then she vanished again and she was kneeling next to me.

She put my arm around her shoulders and helped me painfully to my feet as Deimos staggered to his.

"Get out of here." She said darkly. "Go find your brother and stay away from my father."

"You don't know what it's like." He said darkly. "What it's like to have him as your father. Eternally over shadowed. Forever forgotten. No one cares about me or my brother. No one even knows our names, and if they do they hate us. Do you know what that's like?"

"His father is Zeus." Thea said flatly gesturing towards me. "And most everyone I know, including you, refers to me as thief. Are you really asking us that question?"

"Then you understand why we can't let this go."

"No." she said her eyes narrowed. "I don't, but that might be because you tried to _kill_ us. Several times. It might have made me a little less empathetic."

She was still glowing and he was regarding her warily.

"So, are we done here or are you going to be difficult?" she asked.

He raised his battle axe and she rolled her eyes.

"Of course you are. I'm so done with you." she looked up at me. "Adam?"

"Yeah, let's get this over with." I said and she handed me the spear.

"How does it work?"

"Think of your father."

As I did, Deimos charged and though I felt exhausted and bitterly broken, I thought of the last time I'd seen my father, when he'd smiled and told me he liked Thea. Suddenly, a surge of energy went through me as the spear vibrated. A sky blue light traveled from the hand holding the spear and enveloped me, and it was as if I were temporarily healed of my exhaustion and my pain. Sparks flew from the tip of the spear as around us the wind picked up buffeting Deimos as he ran.

"Just give up!" Thea shouted over the gale as he struggled to stay on his feet. "You're not going to win!"

He continued to press towards us slowly and I directed the spear at him. He wasn't getting anywhere near her, and she seemed to know what was on my mind.

"Last chance!" Thea shouted in warning but he let out a fierce battle cry and lunged after her.

"Do it." she said tonelessly so only I could hear, and the tip of the spear exploded with, not just shocks or sparks, but several strikes of genuine lightning, not called from the sky, be generated by the spear itself.

They caught Deimos on the chest who was thrown off his feet and into a boulder on the island, obviously knocked out cold.

"I tried to warn him." She said shaking her head then looking up at me. "How you feeling?"

"Better." I said looking down at her. "Thanks for coming back for me."

"Always." She said smiling and the light around me died as we contemplated the god.

"So, how exactly did you get away from Phobos?" I asked her.

"You know, it wasn't that hard." she said a little amused. "I think out of the two of them, his powers are more effective to a person's brain than their brawn. He sort of freaked out when he realized he couldn't get into my head anymore and kind of lost his cool. I managed to trick him into following me to the containment room, then locked him up with some of the machines trapped there."

"That was smart."

"I'm a smart girl." she said shrugging.

"Yeah." I said with a laugh and put an arm around her shoulders. "You are."

"So what should we do with him?" she asked a little uncertainly gesturing towards Deimos. "Just leave him?"

"I'm fine with that." I said shrugging. "The gods can decide what to do with them."

"Fine by me." She said then frowned. "We probably shouldn't leave the spear here though, in case he wakes up."

"You don't really want to give this thing to Ares do you?" I asked raising an eyebrow at it. "He's already an egomaniac, imagine what he would do with this."

"I'd rather not." She said frowning. "Here, give it to me."

"Alright." I said confused but deciding not to question her.

She took the spear then contemplated it for a moment, then grabbed it's point and snapped it off.

There was a sound like an electric fence buzzing, and the weapon stopped glowing.

"Well that was easier than expected." She said inspecting it curiously.

"Did you just… _break_ it?" I asked her incredulously.

"Yeah." She said bemused. "I think so. This thing's surprisingly delicate." She let out a laugh, then tossed the useless pieces off of the side of the island and into the lava where they sank, already starting to melt. "There. Now no one can use it."

"You'd better hope Ares doesn't find out you did that."

"Yeah we should probably get out of here."

The effect of the spear was starting to ware off, but Thea had managed to save one piece of ambrosia that her father hadn't taken and though I wasn't completely healed, I knew I was a lot better off than I would have been without it.

We didn't say much as we walked out of the chamber and up the stairs, but she took my hand as we hit the cave.

"Is it weird that I want to just go back to school?" she asked as we walked.

"No." I said shaking my head. "I do too."

"This has been like, the worst break ever."

"Yeah, it really has." I agreed. "You know, a girl in my class went to the Bahamas. We should have just done that."

"Yeah, well with our luck we'd have found a way to anger Poseidon. Then we'd be battling monsters in a typhoon."

"So, pizza and watching movies on the couch next time?"

"Yes." she said fervently. "Maybe switch to Chinese food if we're in the mood for some excitement. You know, just to shake things up."

I smiled and we started making a movie playlist for when we got home as we walked, which eventually morphed into a conversation about how we thought Daisy's ski trip was going and if Dennis was getting along with the Amazons.

"I have a feeling they're going to try to keep him when we pick him up." She said as we reached the door to the heart of the forge. "He's a cute kid. I thought I saw some of the younger girls eyeballing him."

"I have a feeling Hannah would fly out here herself and drag him back by the ear." I said laughing.

"Yeah, I wonder how long it will be before he asks her out."

"Well, from my experience, the best way to success is to date someone totally wrong for you for three years. Wonder why you're miserable. Then, get some sense knocked into you when your forced to realize the girl you really want is moving on."

"So we should sign Hannah up for the hunters?"

"I don't think it needs to be that drastic." I said frowning. "I think Dennis might be a bit better than me with this sort of stuff."

We stepped into the heart of the forge only to feel it shake.

"Fire?" I asked looking around but she shook her head, her eyes wide. "What?"

Her response was to point up, and I followed the direction of her index finger to see a man so massive, that he shook the bronze with each step he took. He whistled and muttered to himself as he carried things like broken bits of armor or schematics to various parts of the forge, but finally, he grabbed a golden sword and started hammering it back into shape on the anvil I'd seen on our last trip to this room.

"What should we do?" I asked quietly. "Is he… ignoring us?"

"I don't think he even knows we're here." She muttered and I remembered what Aphrodite had said about Hephaestus being a little clueless at times.

"Should we say something? Or should we just, you know, leave and hope he doesn't notice us?"

"He might step on us." She said seriously. "He's like fifty feet tall right now."

She hesitated, then glanced at me, then shrugged and looked back up at the god.

"Uh Mr. Hephaestus, uh sir?" Thea asked uncertainly and there was a clang and a clatter as he dropped the tools he was using and looked over his shoulder, then down at us.

He was, well, hideous. His face was rough and welted, and his clothes were so dirty and covered in grease and burns, though they were black, I was pretty sure they hadn't started that way. His hair was wiry and brown, as were his eyebrows, and though his body was deformed, it was incredibly muscled from all his time working at the forge. As rough as his appearance was, the eyes behind the welding googles he were a kind shade of brown. I saw as he pushed them onto his forehead, that they were exact same shade as Tess's.

"Hi." Thea said awkwardly as we stared at the man in utter shock, but he looked even more surprised to see us. "I'm Thea. Tess's friend. You think I'm a weirdo. Can you please not crush as as we pass through? We don't want to bother you, we were just leaving."

"I know who you are." He said still looking stunned. "What in Hades name are you demigods doing in my forge?"


	20. Chapter 20

Tpov

At first, I thought it was a little amusing, even charming, that Hephaestus had written such detailed notes about his children in his workshop. But after interacting with him for about five minutes, I was starting to get a better picture of the god, and I was starting to see that they might have been written out of necessity.

"He must just never talk to people." I said quietly as he lumbered back into the forge, seeming quite happy to be rid of us.

He hadn't been rude, in fact, he as probably one of the politest people I'd ever met, but there was no question he was a little awkward. He'd asked about Tess and his other children at camp, but it seemed as if he only just understood the basics about the dynamics of holding a conversation. I could tell he wasn't really interested in talking to anyone that wasn't a gear head like himself, or talking at all if it wasn't about his kids or machines, but he at least offered to see us safely through the forge. On our return journey we didn't have to worry about jets of fire or hay wire automatons, and he simply lifted the boulders we'd had to climb over out of the way.

"Yeah." Adam agreed. "I think Aphrodite was right. He doesn't really pay much attention to other people." He let out a humorless laugh. "And Dennis thought he'd have house plants."

"Speaking of Dennis, we should probably go get him. You know, before the Amazons get too attached."

"That could be your way of getting back at him you know." He said grinning. "We could spend the day in the city. Take our sweet time."

"No, I think tying him to a street light has shown him the error of his ways."

"Wait. What?" he asked confused. "When did that happen?"

"I'll explain later." I said amused and started climbing the ladder that would take us back above ground.

I opened the hatch only to close it quickly as I heard a growl.

"Uh, Adam." I said looking down.

"Yeah?" he asked and I saw his face turn up to me.

"We have a slight problem of the K9 variety."

"Those wolves are still there?" he asked incredulously and I nodded.

"Alright, I'll take care of it." he said and I grinned.

"Thank you." I said letting go of the ladder and dropping to the floor.

"You know I'm still not totally used to that." He said looking down at me. "I keep thinking you're going to break something."

"If I do you'll have to nurse me back to health." I said with a smirk and he raised an eyebrow.

"I can only imagine the mood you'd be in if you were confined to a hospital bed." He said. "I'm pretty sure you'd rewire the heart rate monitor just to scare the nurses."

"I hadn't thought of that, but it's a good idea." I said thoughtfully and he rolled his eyes.

"That was supposed to be a joke Thea." He said starting to climb the ladder.

"Doesn't make it not a good idea!" I called after him.

He didn't answer but carefully opened the hatch door. There was a snarl and just as he was about to shock the bronze head that had surged, jaws wide, for his throat, the wolf stopped and tilted it's head quizzically at him.

"What the-" Adam said almost falling off the ladder as suddenly, the pack swarmed him, barking playfully and attempting to lick his face. "Thea! What is going on?"

"You must still smell like Hephaestus." I said amused as he struggled to climb out the hatch and I followed him up the ladder amused.

By the time I reached the surface, I saw it was daylight, probably late morning, and looked around the rocky landscape only to see Adam buried under a pile of metal wolves.

A small wolf, the size of a puppy, barked in a high pitched voice and bounded over to me his tail wagging and I grinned and picked it up.

"Get them off me!" Adam said trying to push away one enamored dogs only to have it replaced by three more.

"But it's adorable." I said laughing scratching the puppy behind the ears.

"Thea!"

"Alright." I said amused setting the wolf puppy down and scoured the rocks for a moment, then picked up a sturdy stick.

"Hey! Dogs!" I shouted and several of them looked at me as I held up the stick. "Fetch!"

I chucked the stick as far as I could and they tore after it, the scrappy puppy barking eagerly behind them. I turned back to a stunned looking Adam and burst out laughing.

"What?" he asked getting to his feet.

"You. Look. So. _Ridiculous_." I said between gasps as I clutched my sides.

I generally saw Adam in two variations. One, every day Adam whose hair was always perfect and clothes were unwrinkled, looking as if he folded them perfectly so as not to get any creases. Or two, after he'd just killed several monsters when he looked so beat up and bad ass that no one would dare laugh at him. Right now, he was neither. He and his clothes were covered in grease and oil from the dogs, his hair was sticking up at odd angles from their metal tongues, and his eyes were wide. He looked a little shell shocked.

"I'm sure it's not that bad." He said scowling looking much more like his usual self.

I continued to laugh as he attempted to fix his hair, and kept chuckling to myself as we made our way back to the trail.

It was chilly, but I was glad to be breathing fresh air again, and Adam seemed to be thinking along the same lines because he said.

"I forgot the rest of the world doesn't smell like metal. How long were we down there?"

"No idea." I said honestly. I had no clue what time it actually was, or even what day. We could have been down there a week and I wouldn't have been surprised.

It was a pretty nice hike. With the exception of the harpy we ran into that Adam, who was beyond done with this mission, quickly eviscerated, it was pretty uneventful. I even saw a family of river otters scampering between the foliage close to the trail head.

I wanted to follow them, looking for more otters, but Adam dragged me away reminded me that we still needed to get a ride back to Seattle to pick up Dennis.

"But they're so cute." I said as we hit the parking lot.

"You would like otters." He said rolling his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"They might be adorable, but they're incredibly vicious in a fight."

"You think I'm cute." I teased and he rolled his eyes.

"Well actually, I was going to say you can be terrifying. You kind of kicked Deimos's ass."

"I had a little magical help. But I don't see why I can't be both." I finished and he grinned.

I managed to flirt our way into a ride back to Seattle with a couple of college kids where, after hitting a fast food restaurant, we walked to the Amazon's warehouse.

"I don't care what anyone says." I said through a mouth full of fries as we turned into the industrial park. "French fries are the best form of potato. I will fight anyone who says otherwise."

"I didn't realize it was that critical." He said amused. "Who knew the variations of potato presentation were such a highly charged topic of debate."

"All food is a topic of debate," I said looking up at him. "Why do you think we're always throwing it at each other at my cabin's table?"

"I always thought you guys just enjoyed the chaos." He said shrugging.

"Ok, that might be true." I said thoughtfully. "But it usually starts over some sort of argument. Remember the time I accidentally hit you with a drum stick while aiming for Austin?"

"Yeah, that was like my first week at camp."

"Yeah and you actually threw something back. Even you got yelled at by Chiron that night."

He smiled and let out a short laugh.

"What?" I asked and he shook his head.

"Nothing."

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"Nothing." He repeated but he was still grinning. "It's just, you make my life a little disordered."

"I hope that's a good thing." I said frowning and he slid his hand into mine.

"It's a great thing."

We finally reached the right building about ten minutes later and unlike the last time I'd been here, I came in using the front door.

"I think we came just in time." I said my eyes going wide as one of the Amazons, a short red headed girl I thought was named Beverly, showed us to the break room they were keeping Dennis in, only to see he was being tugged, wide eyed, back and forth by several of the younger girls.

"I saw him first!" a girl with buzzed black hair, who looked about thirteen, shouted.

"I don't care he's mine!" yelled another girl with blond pig tails grabbing Dennis's jacket and attempting to drag him to her side of the room.

"Well, actually he's my brother." I pointed out.

Every eye in the room flicked towards Adam and I and an expression of relief crossed Dennis's terrified expression.

"Oh thank gods." He muttered extricating himself from the crowd of girls he'd attracted and jogging towards me. "Let's get out of here. These girls are crazy."

"All girls are crazy." Adam said darkly and I raised an eyebrow at him. "You just gotta find the type of crazy you like."

"Excuse me." I said frowning.

"Before we left you trapped a bat in Devin's locker." He said looking unabashed. "You are not allowed to be offended by this."

"Alright." I said shrugging and Dennis laughed.

"A bat? I don't even need the backstory. That's just great."

We were lead to the main office in to the conference room where I saw Nina, Amazon in Chief, was talking quite casually with...

"Dad!" Dennis said excitedly tackling him into a hug.

"Hey son." He said grinning at Dennis. He was in a mail carrier's uniform today, and he was back to how he usually looked when I saw him. Brown hair and a more typical age to be the father of teenagers.

"What are you doing here?" Dennis asked curiously.

"Your father and I were discussing the terms of your brother's release." Nina said. She was in regular clothes today, a t-shirt and jeans, and while her tone was pleasant, not for the first time I felt a flash of annoyance go through me that was directed at her. If I'd known Nina out side of the context of holding my brother and boyfriend hostage, I probably would have quite liked her. But unfortunately I found myself at odds with her.

"How about these terms." I said irritated. "You let my brother go, and I won't have my boyfriend demolish your base again."

Dennis rolled his eyes while my father let out a short laugh, and Adam looked down at me.

"You know you are really comfortable threatening people with me." He said looking a little amused by this. "You don't even need to."

"Yes from what I've heard, you don't need Adam to cause any sort of havoc." Nina said. Her voice was terse, but she too looked amused. "I take it you're refusing our offer to join us?"

"Was I not clear how I felt about this place at the moment?" I asked glancing up at Adam. "I feel like I was very clear."

"Calm down Thea." My father said chuckling. "There's no need to be so hostile, we've already reached an agreement. We were just talking but I'm glad to see you're alright. Though to be honest," his gaze shifted to Adam. "I'm surprised to see _you_ alive."

"Why do Gods keep telling me that?" Adam asked raising an eyebrow.

"Because you're an idiot." He said flatly as if this were obvious and Dennis hastily tried to cover a laugh with a cough.

"Dad." I snapped angrily.

"Oh come on Thea." He said testily. "Even you have to admit taking on two gods single handedly is just unapologetically stupid."

"It was brave."

"There's a fine line between brave and suicidal." He muttered but I continued to glare at him and he relented. "But I suppose I do owe you my gratitude." He said glancing at Adam. "You helped keep my children alive over the last couple of days and made it possible for them to find me." He hesitated and then, as if he couldn't help it, he added. "Even if it was because you were acting like an idiot."

"Dad!"

"What?" he asked defensively. "I thanked him. It's not my fault he's just not that smart."

"Actually you didn't and Adam is plenty smart. Why are you laughing?" I asked turning to Adam who I expected to be offended, but was grinning and was indeed, laughing every couple of words that was exchanged between my father and I.

"It's just funny to see you losing an argument for once. I don't think it's I've ever seen it happen before." He said and even Nina, who'd been looking through her contract with my father, politely pretending not to hear the family argument, looked at Adam with interest.

"What are you talking about?" I asked looking at him who shrugged.

"Your father's right."

"Thank you." my father said as if this were obvious but both Dennis and I were staring at Adam.

"Uh, what?" Dennis said obviously wondering if he'd heard him right.

"You _agree_ with him?" I asked indignantly.

"Well yeah. When it comes to you, I don't exactly think rationally." He said simply. "Sometimes, I act like an idiot."

"See?" my father said gesturing towards Adam. "Even he agrees."

"You do realize he's insulting you, right?" I asked raising an eyebrow and Adam shrugged.

"It doesn't bother me."

"Why not?" Dennis and I asked in unified confusion.

"Because I don't really care. Call it stupid, or brave, or what ever you want. You and Dennis got out ok that's all I really care about. Besides, you're clever enough for the both of us. I think I'll be ok."

I looked at Dennis who seemed just a perplexed as I felt, but Nina and my father both looked reluctantly impressed.

"Well." My father said after a stretch of silence. "Maybe you're not as dumb as I thought. You were smart enough to have Thea covering your ass anyways. You couldn't ask for a better partner. Dennis, don't repeat that word."

Dennis made an irritated noise, but resisted the temptation to roll his eyes.

"Well I've got messages to deliver." My father said checking his watch. "As always a pleasure speaking with you Nina."

"Stop by any time." She said mildly. "And feel free to bring any of your sons, the girls just adored Dennis."

Dennis shuddered and she laughed.

"Though, not as much as you." she continued as her eyes glittered at Adam who scowled.

My father laughed and made his way towards the exit, but hesitated and looked back at Adam.

"It's your job to keep her safe." He said. The usual troublemaking gleam in his eyes seemed to have faded, and he looked a little worried. "You know that right?"

"Dad. I can take care of myself." Irritated but he ignored me and continued to look at Adam in earnest.

"If you want her in your life. You need to know you have to protect her. It's never going to be easy."

"I know." Adam said and his hand found mind. "It's worth it."

"Is it worth it for you?" he asked. "Does he make you happy?"

"I'm happier than I've been in a long time Dad." I assured him and he nodded, still looking a little concerned.

"She's my favorite daughter." He said in what sounded like something close to desperation and I felt a shock go through me to see the expression he was giving Adam. I'd never seen him look less like a god, and more like a father. "If anything happens to her because she got tangled up in your life... well, you'll have me to answer to." He glanced at Dennis. "And my favorite son."

Dennis's eyes went wide, but my father had turned to look at me.

"I guess if he can't be someone safe, happy is all I can ask for. Though," he smiled a little. "You would have never gone for someone who'd made your life even the slightest bit boring, would you?"

"Probably not." I agreed with a grin and the glitter in his eyes was back.

"Keep an eye on him Dennis." He said. "Make sure your sister's boyfriend gets a healthy dose of pranks. If anything just to keep him on his toes."

"Uh, right." Dennis said.

"Have a pleasant day Hermes." Nina said smiling at my father who nodded to her.

He gave me one final, searching look, then glanced at Adam.

"Take care of her." He said quietly, then left the room.

Nina turned back to her contract, apparently uninterested in us now that my father was gone, until thirty seconds she glanced up, looking genuinely surprised to see us still around her.

"You're free to go." She said.

"Well, that went…"

"Strangely." Adam finished for me and I nodded as the three of us walked back into the hall.

"So," Dennis said a little awkwardly and I looked down at him. "Since Dad, who is in fact a god, ordered me to prank your boyfriend, you're not going to let him zap me. Right?"

"I think anything thing he catches you doing, he should deal with it however he sees fit." I said shrugging.

"How often does he catch you?" Dennis asked nervously.

"Don't even think about it." Adam said grabbing my wrist as I made an attempt to steal his wallet and I grinned.

"A fair amount." I said but reaching into my pocket and pulling out his pocket knife I'd lifted off him as we walked here. "But he's not as good as he thinks he is."

He rolled his eyes and took back back his weapon as Dennis grinned.

"You know, I need to practice my pick pocketing. I guess I found my new target."

"We can work on it the rest of break." I said grinning and Adam looked at me with mild indignation.

"You know I haven't done anything yet and your father has already set someone on me."

"He could have vaporized you." I pointed out.

"Ah, so I guess I should count myself lucky then?"

"Lucky about what? That my father didn't incinerate you, that we made it out of that death trap Hephaestus calls a forge alive, or that you're dating royalty?"

"Royalty?" Adam asked with a laugh while Dennis made an irritated noise.

"Yes. Does no one remember that I am currently the queen of cabin eleven?"

"Thea, stop saying that." Dennis said annoyed. "Literally no one else calls you that. You're embarrassing yourself."

"Shut up peasant."

"Can it be all three?" Adam asked and Dennis groaned.

"Do not encourage her."

Dennis and I continued to bicker until we exited the building, and as we looked around the asphalt and concrete or the industrial park, it seemed to hit us all at once. The mission was over. We finally got to go home.

"How are we getting back?" Dennis asked hesitantly looking around at the buildings. No one was around us. There wasn't even a car to steal for a ride.

"You really didn't think this through, did you?" I asked looking at him.

"No." he admitted. "I just sort of took off."

"Well." I said looking at Adam. "What do you think. Should we risk it?"

"It's the simplest way." He said with a shrug. "How much time do you think we have before this place is crawling with monsters."

"Five minutes at best, and that's from the moment you turn it on. They're bound to be all over the city."

"What are you guys talking about?" Dennis asked frowning but his question was answered as Adam reached into his bag and pulled out a small flip phone and its battery. He quickly assembled the two and powered on the phone, rapidly dialing a number and muttering "Answer," repeatedly to himself.

I heard the call connect and a voice respond.

"Hey, Mom. Look I don't have a lot of time, I need- yes I know, no I'm not at camp. Look, Mom just listen. Do you have any friends in Seattle?"

A pause.

"I'll explain everything later just give me the address."

Another pause while Nadine relayed the information and then Adam said.

"Alright, thanks. I'll call you when we get back to camp. Yeah, Thea's fine. I'll talk to you later."

He quickly hung up the phone and took out the battery.

"We gotta get to the main part of the city."

"What's going on?" Dennis asked but Adam shook his head.

"I'll explain when we get there, but we need to get out of here now." He said quickly. "Before this place is over run."

"You know. I like the fact we're leading a horde of monsters right to the Amazons." I said as we started running. "Did your mom really ask about me?"

"Not the thing to be focusing on right now Thea." Adam said as we hit the road and continued to run.

"She was worried about me." I said with a grin. "She's totally grown to love me."

"Thea. Monsters. On their way."

"Right, sorry." I muttered while Dennis and Adam gave each other an exasperated look and we ran as far as we could from the Amazon's base.

…

Adam's mother ended up calling an old law school buddy named Karen Kessing, who was an environmental lawyer for a start up company in the city and let us stay in her office for a while. She even drove us to the airport where we found three tickets waiting for us.

Adam, who's last name was the same as the one on the credit card used to buy the tickets was offered and upgrade to first class, seeing as how much his parents flew for their job, but he let Dennis take the ticket so he could sit with me.

After five hours, we'd touched down in New York, Dennis with considerably more twenties than he'd started with at the beginning of the flight. Somehow, I don't know how, Nadine had even managed to get a car to take us to camp. Perks of knowing Nadine I guess. I'd laughed when at one point, Adam told me that his mother was everywhere thinking he was paranoid. Now I understood what he meant and he wasn't wrong. I found myself glad she liked me.

Finally, tired, but in far better shape then we'd been after our last mission, Adam and I climbed up Half-Blood hill followed by Dennis, who I thought would have been thrilled to be back but looked extremely nervous.

"What's wrong?" I asked him as we crossed the barrier.

"Everyone's going to be so mad at me."

"Oh relax." I said shrugging. "We've all snuck out before. Even Adam has."

"He has?" Dennis asked in amazement.

"Yeah. I'll give you a guess as to who convinced me to do it." he said and I grinned.

"No one's going to be too mad at you." I assured him. "They'll just be glad you're home safe."

"Except for Hannah." Adam reminded me.

"Oh yeah. She's still going to kill you."

"Right." He said swallowing nervously.

It was late, and the sun was starting to set as we made our way into the main part of the camp to find that it was empty.

"Everyone must be at dinner." Dennis said looking at his watch, but as soon as he said this, people started drifting from the dining pavilion.

It took a moment for people to notice us, the light was dimming and they were all wrapped up in their own conversations but finally, Tess, who'd been talking to Kyle, let out a screech of excitement and they came sprinting towards us.

"Hey." I said laughing as she tackled me into a hug.

"You guys are alive!" she said in amazement while Kyle laughed and also tackled Adam into a hug.

"What happened at the mountain? Did you blow anything up? Did you see the forge?" Tess babbled her eyes wide. "Blake said you ran into him and that something really freaky was going on. He said he thought something was wrong but he said he couldn't explain…"

"Everything's fine." I said as people came storming to us, my siblings in the lead. "Actually, I got you a present."

I pulled out the sketch book I'd stolen, and she was still looking at it amazed when more people joined us.

"DENNIS!" the twins shouted happily, Jessica with tears in her eyes as they half hugged, half smacked the crap out of him.

"Did you find Dad?"

"What's going on?"

"Who took him?"

"What happened?"

"Where have you guys been all this time?"

"Alright, alright, everyone calm down!" I shouted over the crowd and all eyes turned towards me. "Yes, we found our father. Yes. He's ok. And this one," I said gesturing towards Dennis. "Has seen the error of his ways, though I'm not going to promise he's not going to do something like this because, let's be honest. He's just like me."

Several people laughed and Dennis grinned sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, but that's all the details you're going to get until we talk to Chiron."

Several people grumbled, but before I could even make a move towards the Big House, a chill fell over the campers.

"Uh oh." Jessica muttered.

"DENNIS YOU COMPLETE MORON!" a voice shouted and he winced as the crowd parted and a tiny, irate figure stormed through the campers. "WHERE IS HE? WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU YOU STUPID SON OF HERMES! GODS!"

In Hannah's anger, her powers seemed to be taking a mind of their own. Flowers sprung up behind her as she raged towards us and usually a kind, shy camper, she looked capable of murder.

"Hey Han…" Dennis said a little awkwardly.

"DON'T YOU HEY HAN ME!" she shouted and he backed away his eyes wide. "WHAT ON OLYMPUS WERE YOU THINKING RUNNING OFF LIKE THAT YOU IDIOT! WHAT IF ADAM AND THEA HADN'T FOUND YOU? WHAT IF SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED TO YOU? DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD I WOULD HAVE TO KICK YOUR ASS IF YOU'D DIED?"

Everyone was staring at them in shock, except for my siblings and I who were all grinning.

"But I'm fine!" he protested.

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"

She continued to shout at him, sparks practically flying in her anger and my eyes met Austin's over the argument. He smirked and I knew at this moment, he was thinking the same thing I was. In unison we walked towards the pair, he pushed Dennis, I pushed Hannah and they toppled into each other, their lips meeting.

"Finally…" Jessica and Kevin said in unison while several of Hannah's sisters giggled and a couple of older campers wolf whistled.

They broke apart quickly, both blushing furiously, but when they looked at each other Dennis grinned and she kissed him again.

"You know, I wish someone had done that for us." Adam said frowning and looking at Dennis and Hannah. "That seems a lot easier."

"Easier then what? Me almost dying in order for you to admit you didn't want me to go with the hunters?"

"Well, yeah."

"You are hopeless." I said amused as he took my hand and together we walked towards the Big House.

"I think it's been well established you're the smart one, your highness." He said sarcastically.

"Finally, someone's giving me the recognition I deserve." I said amused but was surprised when he suddenly stopped.

"What?" I asked and I saw his eyes on the Big House, but then he looked at me.

"Do you want to go on a date?" he asked.

"Sure." I said shrugging. "When?"

"Right now."

I stared at him.

"Are you serious?" I asked with a slight grin, unsure if he was joking or not.

He nodded.

"But aren't we supposed to talk to Chiron? Wouldn't ignoring that break protocol or something like that?"

"Honestly, I don't really care." He said shaking his head. "If he really needs to know what happened, he can just ask Dennis. But we just got back, and honestly. I don't want to think about any of that stuff right now. I just want to hang out with you."

"What do you want to do?" I asked feeling my smile grow.

"How hard is it to hitch a ride to the city?" he asked and I looked at him in shock. "What?"

"So not only do you want to blow off Chiron, but you want to sneak out of camp and hitch hike as well?"

"Yes." He said certainly.

"Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?"

"Let's just get going." He said.

I grinned, and, making sure everyone was still ogling the camp's latest couple, or trying to pump information out of Dennis, we ran for the boundary, his hand still in mine.


	21. Chapter 21

Apov

A week after we'd started our mission, Thea and I were back in the mortal world and I found I was grateful to be in school. I didn't know what had come over me the night we'd gotten back to camp, all I knew was that I was done with missions, and I didn't care what anyone thought about it. I was done with the craziness of being a hero. I wasn't dragging Thea into it anymore. They could send other people if they wanted, but I was done. All I wanted was to move on in my mortal life as normally as was possible for me, hang out with my sister and my girlfriend like a normal person, and only deal with the occasional monster attack. I didn't need to be volunteering for more.

"So what do you think?" I asked as we walked from study hall to lunch and she sorted through brochures. Both of us were still healing injuries from our mission to recover Dennis and earning strange looks in the hall, but I wasn't very concerned by this and I got the feeling she wasn't either.

"I think your Mom is _still_ gunning for Harvard." She said distractedly. "Even after I told her the better programs are at Stanford. Look at all these brochures." She said holding up and I recognized the famous 'H' insignia. "It doesn't even make sense. Didn't she go to Yale?"

"She wants you to go to the best Ivy League for your program."

"But the best school isn't an ivy league." She said in frustration. "And I've already made it passed the first rounds for a scholarship with them."

"I know." I said. "But it's my mom. You know she's not going to stop until the final decision is made. What are you going to do?"

"Fake my death and steal a new identity?" she asked sarcastically.

"She'd manage to find you."

"Yeah that's probably true." Thea said with a sigh. "Have you decided where you want to go?"

"I'm following you." I said honestly.

"Does your mom know that?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes."

"And you're still alive?" she asked her eyes wide.

"I think she's convinced she can get you to change her mind, and Harvard happens to have one of the best law schools in the country."

"Ah, she's trying to convince me Harvard was my idea, so I can follow you to where she wants you to end up."

"That sounds about right." I said with a nod. "But school was not what I was talking about."

"Then what were you talking about?" she asked as we waited in the lunch line, but she suddenly smiled slyly and winked at someone, and I looked over my shoulder to see Devin went red and walked away looking irritated.

"Are you going to do that every time he sees us together?" I asked her and she smirked.

"Yes. It amuses me. In fact, I'm thinking of inviting him to our wedding."

"Our wedding?" I asked in surprise. Though she'd seemed comforted rather than freaked out but what I'd seen in Aphrodite's mirror, she'd hadn't brought it up since I'd told her.

"Oh calm down Adam." She said rolling her eyes, obviously misinterpreting my tone. "It was a joke. I'm not getting wedding fever. Anyways, what were you asking?" she asked looking up at me curiously.

"I asked you what you thought."

"About?"

"About my decision to no longer accept missions." I said keeping my voice low so the people around us couldn't hear.

"What about it?" she asked looking confused as we moved up the line.

"Do you think it's the wrong thing to do? It feels kind of selfish, other people are going to have to take the more dangerous assignments now. I'm just not sure if I should-"

But to my surprise, she stood on her toes, took my face between her hands, and kissed me. But it wasn't a short kiss. It was deep and full of meaning, and I found as I pulled her closer my brain had shut off.

I knew several people had started whispering about us, but I didn't care as I was reminded of all the reasons I'd made this decision, why I didn't want to go back. More people started talking but it wasn't until some one shouted,

"Hey! Lover boy, you and Thea are holding up the line!"

That we broke apart. People laughed and I let go of Thea, but I didn't feel embarrassed and from her expression I could tell she wasn't either.

"Adam." She said seriously taking my hand as we moved up the line, as usual, she seemed to know what to say. "You don't owe anyone anything. You've put in more than enough time for the camp, and our parents. They can't ask you to risk your life forever, and they _shouldn't_. You're allowed to move on with your life. And besides, we're still going to be teaching lessons in the arena over the breaks until the next generation is ready to take over. You don't have to feel guilty for wanting to get out. You've done enough."

"It's not going to make me boring to you is it?" I asked voicing a fear I'd had since I made this decision.

"What?" she asked with a laugh.

"I dunno, you're the adventurous type." I said and she shot me an amused look. "Maybe now that that I'm not constantly risking life and limb I won't be as interesting to you."

"Adam, I am more than capable of finding ways to entertain myself." She said. "We can have plenty of fun in the mortal world. Why are you surprised I'm not upset over my boyfriend going off to his possible death every few weeks?"

"See when you say all this stuff it makes sense, but when I think about it on my own, I still feel bad."

"That's because you're one of those noble types." She said grabbing a tray with a salad on it, realizing she'd picked up something with vegetables, and quickly exchanged it with the burger next to it. "It's adorable, but stick with me sky boy." She said with a smile I knew was trouble. "I'll knock you off that pedestal real quick."

I laughed and also avoiding the salad, grabbed a piece of pizza, then followed her to an empty table where I knew Daisy would eventually join us.

"So," Thea said taking a bite of her burger and giving me a curious look. "Do you think your dad would ever visit you at school?"

"No." I said frowning. "Why would you even ask that?"

"How certain are you?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"One hundred percent."

"I bet you three drachmas he does before we graduate." She said shrugging.

"It's never going to happen."

"Fine, I'll up the anti." She said casually. "Six drachmas that he visits us before winter break."

"You're crazy."

"If I'm crazy you'll take the bet."

"Fine." I said amused. "But you're just giving me money."

"Is that so?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Who's that new teacher in the hall?" she asked nodding over my shoulder.

I turned and looked through the windows of the cafeteria out into the hall of the school and felt my stomach drop through the floor.

"Pay up." Thea said with a snicker and I put the coins on the table, still in shock.

"What on earth is he doing here?" Of course, within days of my decision to all but give up on my demigod side of life my father would show up. What on earth could have possibly gone wrong now?

"No idea." She said shrugging taking her money. "He's your dad, you ask him."

"You know you cheated." I said looking at her.

"I did not cheat." She said in a refined tone. "You could have looked up to see who was around us before you accepted. I simply, and cleverly I might add, withheld crucial information until I needed to be revealed."

"Which is another way of saying you cheated."

"Get used to it." she chuckled. "Now are you going to sit here and argue with me or go see what your Dad wants?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah. Love you."

"Love you too." I said automatically and started walking towards the exit.

I made it to the hall to find my father was missing from it.

"What the?" I asked looking around but I spotted a figure rounding the corner and I ran after him.

I heard feet going up a familiar stairwell and followed after them up to the roof. As I stepped on to it. I saw it was cold and breezy, but with a bright, cloudless sky. My father was leaning against the low wall, looking over the city the way I knew Thea liked to. I wondered if this is what I might look like when I was next to her. People always said my father and I looked a like.

"I'm told by her father that your girlfriend has an appreciation for heights." He said without turning around. "Perhaps she was always meant to belong to a son of the sky."

"Thea doesn't belong to anyone." I said irritated pausing mid step to approach him. "She's a person."

"Well your heart belongs to her." He said looking at me shrewdly. "And there's no reason to raise your temper at me. I was speaking poetically."

"Sorry." I said and it was a genuinely apology, as I walked to stand next to him, I continued. "Ever since the Amazons, that's sort of a sore subject for me."

"I can tell." He said amused. "You seem rather on edge."

"Well, you don't visit much, and last time you did, Thea and I were attacked multiple times. I'm not eager to repeat the experience."

"Perhaps, but that's not the only reason. You know I always got the impression you never really liked it when I was around." My father said looking at me with a sigh.

I didn't give an answer mainly because I wasn't sure if I had one. He was my father, people were supposed to want them in their lives, but I would be lying if I said that even his presence hadn't always stressed me out. I didn't understand why at first, but I did now. Even from a young age I'd realized that in some ways my father and I were a like, but in many ways, we were very different. You could see it in who we chose to be around. Thea, my sister Daisy, even Kyle who couldn't take things seriously if his life depended on it versus my mother or Hera, the terrifying woman he'd chosen to marry. I'd spent my whole life confused on who I was and who I thought I wanted to be, that other people told me I was supposed to be because of him. But now that I was here and after everything I'd gone through and seen over my life, I realized that deep down, I didn't want to be like him. Sure, there were things about our personalities that might be similar, but the type of life we wanted, and the things we expected out of it were very different.

He seemed to know what was on my mind because he fixed me with a shrewd expression.

"You know I've watched you more carefully than you've realized son." He said with a frown. "Normally with my children, I find myself preoccupied with making sure they don't stray too far from the beaten path which could be disastrous for children of such power. But you were always a little different."

"What does that mean?"

"It means the only time you were ever really happy, was when you were able to escape the label of being my son. Not that you would ever admit that to anyone."

I looked at him, uncertain how he would feel about this, but he didn't look upset.

"Don't look so worried Adam." He said shaking his head. "It's one of the things I always admired about you. Not many of your brothers have tried it, to be anything other than my perfect son, and you tried to be for a while, but I think we both know that you were never going to be happy that way. And I'm glad you've finally stopped."

"So nothing is wrong?" I asked him confused. If nothing was going on, why was he here?

"Can I just visit my son?" he asked.

"You never have before." I said frowning and he let out another sigh.

"I guess to you it does seem confusing. You're right, I haven't been around much as you've grown up, but it's not for the reason you think."

"I always thought It was because you weren't interested in me."

"On the contrary." He said quietly and I looked at him in confusion. "I stayed away from you because I care very much. In some ways, you might be the son whose life I've taken the most interest in."

"By never showing up?" I asked incredulously.

"By letting you make it your own." He said his tone hard to place, but his expression was distant as if he was lost in thought. "I've watched all my children grow up over the centuries, they come in a few verities, but never have I seen a child like you. You've always struggled with who you are and who you think my child is supposed to be, and while I know you think I'm ashamed of it, it actually makes me quite proud."

I felt a shock go through me, and I wasn't exactly sure I understood what he was saying. My father was proud of me?

"It does?" I asked quiet amazement and he nodded.

"It's why I made the conscious decision not to interfere with your life Adam, because I felt my involvement would only bring you further turmoil. Everyone pressure on you, they expect things of you. It's an inescapable hazard of being my child but the truth is you are not me, and you don't want to be." He said and not for the first time, I felt as if the gods could read minds, but what he said next surprised me even further. "And I don't want you to be either. I've seen enough of my children trapped in our world because they can't control who they are." He sighed. "Your sister Thalia, forced to join the hunters to avoid a prophecy, Hercules continuously tormented by my wife and forced to live with that for an eternity as a god. But you were one of the few who had a chance at finding some kind of happiness. I wasn't going to ruin that by giving you a sense of duty to me. I knew you thought I expected something of you, you would waste your life trying to achieve whatever goal you thought you had to attain but honestly, all I ever want for any of my children is for them to be happy."

He let out another sigh and his eyes looked far away.

"And I was right wasn't I? It took you a while, but you did find someone who made you happy. Even if Thea is exactly the opposite of what everyone would have expected from you. But to be honest, when Aphrodite told me what was going on in your love life, I wasn't at all surprised. But even if you'd always been unusual, I knew you'd never allow yourself to be around her if you continued laboring under the delusion that you had to be anything like your father. So I stayed out of your life, and I don't regret it. You've become your own man, and you've found someone who will let you be that."

He let out a slight laugh and grinned.

"She's a weird girl Adam, and I don't mean that in a bad way," he said quickly when he caught my expression. "But she is a bit odd. I can promise you one thing though."

"What is that?"

"You don't need missions or quests to keep her happy. Your life with her will be an adventure all on it's own. It's the life I hope the all of my children can achieve one day, to spend the rest of it with their best friend."

"I-" I started to protest but he cut me off.

"You think I don't know what you saw when you picked up that mirror last summer?" he asked raising an eyebrow. "You know what you want son, and while it might be unorthodox for me to say this while you're still relatively young, she's an unorthodox person. It's why you love her and personally, I don't think see why you would wait. We both know you're not going to change your mind. She won't either, you couldn't find a more loyal partner."

Shock ran through me and I looked at him uncertain if I'd understood him correctly. Was he saying what I thought he was?

"Don't look so surprised." He said with a chuckle. "You already gave her the ring. Do you really think it would still work if I disapproved of your choice?"

"So you weren't lying then? You do like her?"

"My opinion on her doesn't matter much." He said with a shrug. "She's going to be around. But yes, I do. In fact, out of all the things you've done that could make me proud to call you my son, my favorite was you having the bravery to step away from what everyone expected from you, and allowing yourself to finally be happy."

I stared at out over the city, unable to think of anything to say but he didn't seem to need an answer.

"It takes a lot of courage to know what the world expects from a child of mine then try to live up to it. It takes even more however, to know what they expect and forge your own path. And you got your reward."

He shook his head.

"I know you don't think so, but I am proud of you Adam and you were wrong by the way." He said casually, but there was something behind his tone that made me look at him. "I would have made the trade."

"Trade?" I asked feeling a little confused. "What are you talking about?"

"When the Amazons called Olympus." he said and an unusually warm breeze blew over us for this time of year.

"You didn't refuse them?" I asked softly in disbelief.

"No I did." He said. "But only because I knew Thea would find you. I told their queen that they'd regret holding you, and not just because you are my son. But because I knew there would be nothing that would stop your girlfriend from dismantling their empire brick by brick until she'd she had you back, and I think Nina saw that in her."

"So that's why she let us go so easily." I said quietly. "Even after we trashed their place."

"Yes, it was. But had she not been looking for you. I would have made the trade."

"Why?"

"Because Hercules has an eternity to try and turn his miserable life around," he said with a bitter sigh. "But he's so caught up in his own tragedy he refuses to even entertain the idea. But you, you have one lifetime, and already you've given me much more confidence you'll do something with it. Your future actually gives me hope. With you, I have a feeling you might actually achieve what your mother wants from you. With Thea, you could be much more than just my son."

The bell ran inside the school, and I was surprised to realize that lunch was over.

"I suppose you'd better get going back to class." My father said looking a little disappointed. "But I do hope you know that I am proud of you."

Suddenly, he grinned.

"And I know the question that's been on your mind from the moment you looked in that mirror. I think you should ask her."

"Wait, now?" I asked incredulously.

"Well maybe not quite this second." He said amused. "You are still in high school. But that's not for much longer, is it?"

He gave me a significant look, and his figure started to glow brightly.

I looked away as there was a flash, and when I opened my eyes again, I found that my father had vanished.

I knew I was now cutting it close to getting to class on time, but I didn't move for a moment, looking at the place he'd vanished.

"Hey."

I turned to see Thea stepping through the door to the roof.

"Where's old man Zeus?" she asked. Thunder cracked above us and she grinned. "Guess he doesn't like that name."

"Guess not." I said grinning as she jumped up and sat on the wall so she was facing me.

"So you're not grouchy or cursing the gods." She said looking at me curiously. "I take it Olympus is not in trouble for once?"

"No, everything's fine." I agreed.

"So, what did he want to talk about then?" she asked curiously looking up at me with interest.

"You." I said honestly and her eyes glittered cleverly.

"Ah," she said with half a smile. "Do I want to know what was said? Or has he finally come to his senses and realized he doesn't want his son dating a thief?"

"He said he was proud of me."

"Well he should be." She said shrugging. "You're a pretty impressive person."

"He said he was proud because I found you."

"Really?" she asked in surprise and I nodded. "Well that's a bit unexpected, but I'm glad he approves of our relationship."

"Much more than your father anyways."

"Don't worry about him." She said rolling her eyes. "He'll come around, and besides, all that 'take care of her' and 'protect her crap,' you'd think he'd just given me away."

She'd said this as a joke, but after my conversation with my father, I realized maybe one of the reasons Hermes had been so irritated with me was because he'd known how I felt about Thea. Where I wanted things to go. Maybe he didn't like me because he wasn't ready to give up his favorite daughter.

"You've got a funny look on your face." She said grinning at me. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." I said shaking my head. "We should probably get going. We're going to be late."

"Alright." She said amused and allowed me to pull her off the wall.

I walked her to her history class where she kissed me good bye, and I was on my way to calculus when I caught the tail end of a conversation Devin and his friends were having.

"I'm telling you something is not right with those two. Haven't you seen? They're covered in injuries. It's like they spent the break in a cage fight. They're total freaks."

I wasn't exactly sure what made me do it, in fact, wasn't aware of doing it at the time. But the next thing I knew, I'd reached out, and Devin was slammed in to a locker.

The chatter of the students in the hallway died as everyone, including his friends, turned to look at us in total shock. As I looked down at his groaning figure, I realized I'd been so busy trying to stay alive, I hadn't thought about Devin since Thea had told me what he'd said to her. But now that he was in front of me, I realized I was holding on to a lot of anger. So much, I was surprised to find I had to stop myself from picking him up and doing it again.

"Talk about me all you want." I said flatly. "But don't you dare say a word about my girlfriend."

"She's finally got you fighting her battles for her huh?" he asked as he staggered to his feet and glared at me.

"Thea doesn't need me to fight anything for her, but I heard about your little bookmark comment. So let me make something clear." I glowered at him. "You say anything like that to her again, and you'll be the one trapped in your locker, not a fruit bat. And I'll help her put you there."

He looked resentfully at me, and I continued to glare at him, daring him to respond, but before anything could escalate, I felt someone grab my jacket and pull me down the hall.

"You idiot." Daisy said in an exasperated voice. "Will you calm down before you get yourself into trouble?"

She'd dyed her hair over the break. It was a vivid red now, and I found myself thinking that if she ever met Blake, they'd probably get along.

"He's a jerk." I said darkly.

"Yeah, but don't you think you're over reacting? All he did was say something stupid about your girlfriend. It's not that big of a deal."

"Yes, it is." I said stubbornly.

"For the love of God why?" she asked rolling her eyes and though I hadn't thought of one, I found I had an answer ready.

"Because she's more than just my girlfriend." I said shaking my head. Thea had become someone closer to me than a girlfriend, or even a best friend. She felt like family, but not in the way that Daisy or my mother felt. "She's my future wife."

I expected Daisy to laugh at me, or hit me. Maybe yell at me or call me an idiot again, or remind me that I was eighteen and Thea was even younger than that, but to my very great surprise, she didn't. She frowned and I could tell it was on her mind, but after a moment, she shrugged and said.

"I always wanted a sister."

"I am not good enough for you Daze?"

"No." she said with a smirk. "Besides, I'm going to need another sibling soon."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because when you tell Mom, she's going to kill you."


	22. Chapter 22

Alright this is the last chapter. Thank you to everyone who followed/favorited/reviewed, it really helped! I hope you like the last chapter!

~secrethalfblood

Tpov

The school year passed so quickly, I didn't realize it was summer until our exams were finished and final grades were in.

Neither Adam nor I bothered to go to graduation. I hadn't gone to the school long enough to feel any sort of attachment to it and Adam, who had been there for four years, said he felt the same. Instead, we'd gone straight to camp where we'd spent the next several weeks doing pretty much whatever we felt like until school started. Nadine had forced us to apply to what felt like every school on the planet, but while I wasn't surprised Adam had managed to get into Harvard, I was very shocked to find I had as well. Much less surprising however, was that Nadine had managed to get her way, and that's where we were headed in the fall.

I leaned back and put my arms behind my head, enjoying the warm sunlight and the heat radiating from the tiles on the roof of the Big House. As always, it was a beautiful day at camp, and I planned on using the good weather to my advantage. I smiled and stretched as I closed my eyes. Though I'd taken mentoring a bit more seriously since I'd started dating Adam, I was taking the morning off because hey, what were birthdays for if you didn't enjoy them?

I'd prepared myself for what I knew was going to be just an epic nap, when I heard someone call my name.

"Yeah?"

"Would you stop sun bathing like a reptile and come down?" A familiar voice said irritated and I grinned. "You know people want to see you on your birthday."

I sat up and leaned over the edge of the roof to see Dennis, Austin, and Tess all looking up at me. It was Tess who'd spoken.

"I was about to take a nap." I said.

"You can be lazy some other time." Austin said with a grin. "Your boyfriend wants you."

"Isn't he teaching in the arena?" I asked frowning.

"Thea," Dennis said rolling his eyes. "It's lunch time. How long have you been up there?"

"No idea." I said shrugging, but dropping down to them. "Where is Adam?"

"At the beach." They said in unison.

"Why?" I asked confused. There were no activities to teach on the beach. I had no idea what he'd be doing there.

"Just come with us." Austin said gesturing for me to follow him as Tess linked her arm with mine and gave me the news that Blake was moving to Connecticut to be closer to her as she went to school.

"We won't be that far apart either." She said happily. "I'm sure I could totally get him to drive us up for a visit. You know if you and Adam aren't dying from the workload."

"We probably will be." I said and she smirked.

"Hey, no one forced you to go to an Ivy League." Austin pointed out from a few steps ahead where he and Dennis had been talking about who should be the next Head of the Cabin. His half brother had offered him a job back in his hometown which he'd decided to take, which meant after this summer, our cabin would need a new sibling in charge.

"Why don't you do it Thea?" Dennis asked curiously.

I laughed.

"Chiron would never allow that. I'd let you guys get away with too much stuff."

"Ok, I'm pretty sure Austin here would let you get away with murder." Dennis said rolling his eyes. "And besides. You're like perfect for the job. You're great with the younger campers. You know Kyle and now that Tess took the job, you're friends with two cabin heads, and your dating a third. And, you aren't afraid to smack some sense into us when we go too far. Once Austin leaves, you'll be the oldest in the cabin, and you've gone on the most missions. In fact, I'm pretty sure in the rule book, it's supposed to be you."

"You know he's got a point." Austin said looking at me with interest. "And you haven't gotten into trouble lately. Chiron might just go for it. And you've already trained your replacement as cabin delinquent so anyone who needs training in the art of mischief can go to Dennis instead of you."

"At what point in my life did people start think I was capable of accepting responsibility?" I asked a little offended. I liked causing mischief.

"When you started dating Adam." Tess said with a chuckle and Austin threw an arm around my shoulders.

"Oh relax Thea it's not so bad. I felt just like you did when Tiffany offered me the job."

"Who?" Dennis asked.

"The last cabin head." Austin and I explained in unison and he continued.

"In fact, I'll give you the same advice she gave me."

"What's that?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

I felt him smack the back of my head.

"Suck it up loser, it's happening."

"Such an inspiration." I said sarcastically rubbing the back of my head moodily while Tess and Dennis both collapsed into fits of laughter.

"Yeah, she wasn't one to beat around the bush." Austin said with a grin.

When we hit the beach, I was shocked to find that it wasn't just Adam that was waiting for me. My whole family, and several of the friends I'd gained through Adam and Kyle, and even Chiron, were there. Picnic benches had been dragged on the sand and were stacked with pizza boxes and I saw a giant cake in the shape of a wing was resting on the one in the center.

"What the?"

"Surprise!" Tess squealed happily tackling me into a hug. "Happy eighteenth Thea!"

"You're official a boring adult." Austin said smirking at me.

"Sucks to be you." Dennis said with a snicker but quickly added. "Oh, and happy birthday and stuff."

He gave me one final smile before jogging off to Hannah, who was talking to couple of Apollo sisters and he was still going out with. I was swarmed with people who'd surged forward to wish me a happy birthday.

The next hour was a bit chaotic, talking to people, playing games on the sand. My siblings had started a game of tag that just ended up being a fight as weapons were drawn that Chiron, Austin, and I had to break up.

Finally, I found myself sitting on my own as others around me talked, munching on my fourth slice of pizza with every intention of eating a fifth because screw it, it was my birthday.

"So, good day?" Adam asked sitting across the bench from me and taking an apple from the bowl of fruit no one had touched next to a nearly empty big of chips.

"Yeah." I said happily. He'd given me his present earlier, a massive bucket filled with locks that Dennis had helped him pick for my collection as well as a new lock picking set with picks made of stainless steel so they were difficult to break. In addition to that, Dennis had gotten me a skeleton key code he'd come up with last year that worked on most ATMs, Tess and Blake had gotten concert tickets for a show they were taking Adam and I to, and Austin had gotten me a Harvard hoodie. Even my father had sent me something, a beautiful hair clip with silver wings that were studded with diamonds and I was wearing now.

"I like the clip." He said with a grin. "From your dad I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, apparently he gave it to my mom and before she passed, she told him to take care of it until it was time whatever that means. The whole card he sent was confusing. He said something about giving his blessing, but usually demigod's glow when that happens so," I shrugged. "That made no sense. He also said to consider as my something old which made even less sense. I dunno. He's weird."

"Interesting." He said more to himself than me, and I had a feeling he'd understood something I hadn't.

"If you say so." I said amused. "I thought the whole thing was bizarre, but I'm glad he kept it. He was right, my mom would have loved it."

"You know for a girl who doesn't care much about jewelry, you've got quite the collection of accessories." He said grinning.

"Hey, two out of the three pieces I'm wearing right now could be used to cause devastation in a fight. Don't forget that."

"Are you really going to use my own powers against me?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Not if you don't irritate me." I said with an innocent smile.

"You know you're a piece of work." he said a slight laugh in his voice.

"Oh shut up, you know you love me."

"Yeah, I do." He said looking down at the apple he'd picked up. "You know I've been thinking about that mission a lot recently. And what we were all forced to see." He said tossing it to himself. "I guess Tess had you pegged when she said you had a fear of abandonment."

"Well she is my best friend." I said and he gave me a thoughtful look. Adam had been a lot more relaxed since his decision to stop taking missions. He was a lot happier at camp, happier than I'd ever seen him here, and even in the mortal world he'd seemed a lot less stressed. I wasn't exactly sure what had changed in him since we got back, but it seemed as if all the anxiety and pressure he felt because of his parents had simply gone away, and I found that things had gone back to the way they were when he'd first started coming to camp. When it was so much easier for him to relax and just have fun.

"I wish I knew how to make it go away." He said eventually looking up at me and while his expression was calm, his eyes seemed intense.

"They say time heals everything." I said with a shrug.

"Maybe." He said with a nod. "I had another idea, but I'm not sure what you'd say."

"What do you mean?" I asked but he didn't elaborate.

Instead he contemplated the apple for a moment then asked.

"Want one?"

"You do see I'm eating pizza right?" I asked with a grin, but he tossed it to me anyways and I dropped my slice to catch it automatically.

"What?" I asked as he smirked.

"Nothing." He said continuing to grin as he stood and started walking away.

"Adam?" I asked after him but he didn't turn around.

"What was that about?" I asked, wondering why several people were staring at me.

"Uh, Thea?" Dennis said uncertainly.

"What?" I asked looking at the apple.

"You're going to want to go after him." Tess said looking stunned.

"Why?" I asked confused. The whole party had stopped, even Chiron seemed taken a bit off guard.

I looked after Adam, realization slowly dawning on me. What my father had meant in his card, what Adam had just done.

"Did he just-" I started but Kyle cut me off.

"Yeah. He did. He's wanted to for a while now." He said and we all stared after him. Suddenly, something clicked into place.

"Adam!" I shouted scrambling to my feet and sprinting after him. "Adam, wait up!"

He turned looking a little anxious, but I threw my arms around him and kissed him as we fell back into the sand.

"I take it that's a yes?" he asked laughing his eyes meeting mine as we broke apart and I smiled.

"Yeah." I said quietly. "It's a yes."

I laughed as he pulled me into a tight hug and as I leaned my head against him, I closed my eyes. For the first time, I thought I could see my future. It wasn't uncertain, it wasn't something to be afraid of because I'd finally found something I was sure of. Someone I was certain stick with me and I knew that no matter what, Adam would never leave.

...

So like I said, that's the end, thank you to everyone that made it this far. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for all the support, it was really great. Hope everyone has a safe holiday no matter what you're celebrating!

~secrethalfblood


	23. Chapter 23

So I got a request to make a third story, and while I'm very flattered to be asked, I honestly don't think I'd be able to write anything worth reading with these two characters. I can try, but I don't want to promise anything because I honestly think it would just be played out and not very good, and I don't want to disappoint anyone, or ruin these characters. Another problem is, at the end of this story, Adam pretty much decided he was moving on with his life and both characters were deciding to make the transition to eventually living in the mortal world. I don't really want to change that decision because I thought it was important in his character development. Another demigod story might ruin this, but I guess I can toy with ideas of a natural way of bringing them back in. I'll work on it because I was asked, but I'm not sure I can promise anything.

I do have any idea of some scenes of them together in the future, but nothing with an actual plot. That being said, I ended up really liking the idea of Dennis and Hannah for some reason, and I DO think I could write a story about them. If I did I could have it heavily involve Thea and Adam and what's going on in their lives maybe a little later on in the future? Maybe I could marry the two ideas and have the original two forced back into the Greek world by something unavoidable.

I dunno, I think I'm just rambling now, maybe a couple days will clear like my head like last time and ideas will come to me.

I'll leave it up to the people (if any) who want to read it. Message me or leave a review if you have any interest in either a story about Dennis and Hannah or maybe just a quick flash forward sort of thing of Adam and Thea's future lives. Honestly, if I were to write one it would probably the story featuring Dennis but again, just let me know what you think. I really do take what you all say in to consideration.

As always, you guys are awesome for all the feed back. Hope you have a good week!

~secrethalfblood


	24. Chapter 24

The first chapter of the newest story is up, title is Verity. It is about Hannah and Dennis, but Adam and Thea are in the story as well, it just won't be focused around them because their story is pretty much done. Hope those who read it enjoy it!

~secrethalfblood


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